# A Review of Digital Era Governance Research in the First Two Decades: A Bibliometric Study
## 2 Literature Review
The citation network analysis was conducted on citation data of e-governmentresearch articles published between 1989 and 2016 included in Web of Science. They discovered that the biggest e-government research topics were _e-governance framework design_, _administration and information system management_, _efficiency or quality evaluation_, and _the application of social networks and open data_ leading to _e-democracy_. Accordingly, they concluded that _the adoption of open data_ and _social networking for user interactions with the government_, which leads to _participatory governance_, are emerging research topics. Finally, the latest bibliometric study by [PERSON] et al. [33] considered 484 research documents on _e-government adoption_, _e-government efficiency_ and _e-government development_ published by 2019 and indexed in Web of Science. They came to the conclusion that themes such as citizen, evolution, online services and e-participation are strongly connected with e-government (adoption). Apart from general and more encompassing bibliometric studies, one can find studies focused on specific communities, i.e., a selected journal, conference, country etc. [PERSON] [26] analyzed 41 research articles on e-government published in _Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy (TGPPP)_ between 2007 and 2008. By utilizing a profiling approach, the results revealed that descriptive, theoretical, analytical and conceptual methods were the most commonly used research approaches, and that the majority of contributions came from experts in information systems, followed experts in business, computer science, and IT. The next study by [PERSON] and [PERSON] [34] was performed by utilizing bibliographic data on 433 papers published in the proceedings of _International Conference on e-Government (EGOV)_ between 2002 and 2009. Based on social network analysis they investigated the collaboration within the EGOV community and discovered that sub-communities were characterized by the geographical distribution of the most prominenta authors as well as the popularity of certain research themes. Another bibliometric analysis by [PERSON] [27] looked at articles published in _Government Information Quarterly (GIQ)_ between 2005 and 2010. According to the results, around half of all regular articles published explored and/or discussed a concept connected to the research field of e-government. Moreover, the results revealed that nearly half of the e-government studies were conceptual or relied solely on secondary data for analysis; that Europe, North America, and Asia were the primary focus of the examined research; and that no single topic dominated e-government research. On a country level, [PERSON] et al. [35] performed a bibliometric and sociometric analysis of e-government in Brazil. The study considered 124 articles from Brazilian journals and conference proceedings published between 2007 and 2012. Their analysis revealed that _e-governance_, _e-administration_, _e-participation_ and _digital inclusion_. They emphasized the need for greater interaction among Brazilian researchers, to employ theories as the foundation for findings and arguments, and for greater efforts to publish scientific articles in prominent international journals. Similarly, [PERSON] [36; 37] conducted a bibliometric study of e-government research in Portugal. The analysis looked at 69 research documents published in journals, conference proceedings and books between 2005 and 2014 and listed in the Scopus database. The results revealed that _strategies and methodologies_, _interoperability and service integration_, and _quality_, _accessibility and usability_ were the most frequent research topics addressed in Portuguese e-government research. Further, to enhance e-government research in Portugal, he came to the conclusion that it is important to involve more experts in the research, to enhance and further develop international comparison, and to devote more attention to examining the drivers of the country's success in providing e-government services.