West Science Social and Humanities Studies
Vol. 4 No. 08 (2026): West Science Social and Humanities Studies

A Bibliometric Analysis of Earnings Management

Loso Judijanto (IPOSS Jakarta, Indonesia)
Dila Padila Nurhasanah (Universitas Nusa Putra)
Ilham Akbar Bunyamin (Universitas Nusa Putra)



Article Info

Publish Date
31 Aug 2026

Abstract

Earnings management remains one of the most extensively investigated phenomena in accounting and corporate governance research, reflecting persistent scholarly concern over the reliability of financial reporting. This study conducts a bibliometric analysis to map the intellectual structure, research trends, influential publications, and collaboration patterns within earnings management scholarship indexed in the Scopus database. Data were analyzed using VOSviewer to perform keyword co-occurrence analysis, overlay and density visualization, citation analysis, co-authorship analysis, institutional collaboration mapping, and country-level distribution mapping. The results reveal three major thematic clusters: a methodological and demographic cluster associated with empirical research design, a financial-economic cluster centered on earnings, investment, and decision making, and a governance cluster dominated by earnings management, corporate governance, accruals, and agency theory. Citation analysis identifies foundational works on discretionary accrual measurement and real activities manipulation as the most influential contributions shaping the field. Co-authorship and institutional mapping reveal relatively fragmented research communities anchored by prolific scholars, while country-level analysis indicates pronounced dominance of United States-based institutions with limited international collaboration density. This study contributes a structured overview of earnings management research development and identifies research gaps concerning governance mechanisms, real activities manipulation, and cross-country institutional context for future scholarship.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

wsshs

Publisher

Subject

Humanities Economics, Econometrics & Finance Law, Crime, Criminology & Criminal Justice Public Health Social Sciences

Description

West Science Social and Humanities Studies is an academic journal that focuses on interdisciplinary research in the fields of social science, science, and humanities studies. The journal aims to present high-quality articles that make significant contributions to our understanding of society, ...