Evolution of Central and Eastern Europe related international business research

This study reviews the presence of articles related to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in Web of Science (WOS). Bibliometric analysis first reveals the trends of CEE-related articles in the areas of international business (IB), management and economics up to 2016. The results show steady growth in absolute and relative numbers after 1990, intensifying since 2010. Second, we conduct topic research using network analysis with blockmodeling. We identify a network of topics and their interrelations over time and used them to periodise the CEE-related research in IB. The most-cited CEE-related IB articles and the main citation path are also presented. The analysis adds to the discussion of how the CEE region is explored in IB research, its contributions, impacts and the challenges facing regional research in the future. In this study, a methodology and framework for performing a comprehensive bibliometric analysis on regional IB research is applied.