Mapping Start-up Research Trends: A Literature Review from 2004 to 2023

Start-ups are innovative and fast-growing companies that aim to address market needs by developing unique products or services, often disrupting traditional industries with fresh perspectives and technologies. The goal of the paper is to present the findings from a literature review conducted using VosViewer on Scopus data covering the period 2004-2023, focusing on scholarly articles with “star-tup” or “start-ups” in the abstract, the title of keywords in the areas of Business, Management and Accounting and Economics, Econometrics and Finance. The analysis reveals a significant increase in research output over the past two decades, highlighting diverse perspectives across disciplines. Employing bibliometric techniques, influential authors, seminal works, and research communities within the start-up domain are identified. The thematic analysis uncovers key research themes such as entrepreneurial ecosystems, financing strategies, innovation dynamics, and organisational behaviours. The paper contributes to understanding the start-ups as the focus of scientific research, identifying gaps, and suggesting future research directions.