Fifty years of scholarly research on terrorism: Intellectual progression, structural composition, trends and knowledge gaps of the field

Abstract

Scholarly literature on terrorism is analysed in its full scope with three main goals: (i) to objectively determine the structural makeup of the field, (ii) to document its current and past temporal trends; and (iii) to identify underrepresented areas. The size of the literature is estimated to have exceeded 18,000 items. At the highest level of aggregation, the field is found to be composed of four major divisions representing: (a) political, ideological and criminological, (b) economic, (c) psychological; and (d) emergency response aspects of terrorism research. The literature has been largely driven and guided by outside political events. Two major spikes in the intensity of terrorism res..