A bibliometric overview of the relationship between knowledge management and active methodologies

Abstract

Knowledge management and active methodologies are consolidated fields that individually accumulate a rich and applied literature across different areas of knowledge. However, the intersection between these two fields remains systematically underexplored in the international scientific literature, constituting a relevant research gap. This article aims to map the scientific production on this intersection through a bibliometric analysis conducted in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. A quantitative, descriptive, and exploratory approach was adopted, with scientific mapping guided by a structured research protocol and data processing performed using the Bibliometrix package. The analysis of the 98 documents composing the corpus revealed a growing field with moderate annual growth and most of the production concentrated in the last four years, yet dispersed across 87 distinct journals, with no dominant authors or journals and low international collaboration, in which China, the United States, and Brazil lead in output. It is concluded that the intersection between the two fields is in a consolidation phase, with an open research agenda. Thus, this work contributes with a systematic and replicable mapping of this gap, offering insights for future investigations that deepen the understanding of emerging trends in the area.