The Application of Blockchain in Supply Chain Management ： Knowledge Mapping Analysis Based on Citespace
Zhang Peng1,2, T. Ramayah1,3,4,5,6,7*, Lo May Chiun6
1 School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
2 School of Management, Zhengzhou Business University, China
3 Fakulti Pengurusan dan Perniagaan, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM)
4 Pusat Kajian Penciptaan Nilai dan Kesejahteraan Insan (INSAN), Fakulti Ekonomi dan Pengurusan (FEP), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia
5 Faculty of Accounting and Management, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
6 Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Sarawak, Malaysia.
7Faculty Of Business, Economics and Social Development, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), Malaysia
.
*Corresponding Author: [email protected]
Accepted: 10 January 2023 | Published: 31 March 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.55057/ijbtm.2023.5.1.29
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Abstract: This study examines the present scholarly research on blockchain technology in supply chain management. The primary purpose of this working paper is to visualize and perform a scientometric review of 468 publications and research published between 2007 and 2021 from the Web of Science database. Co-author analysis, co-word analysis, and co- citation analysis highlight main concepts and research hotspots and provide light on important specializations and developing trends. This study primarily uses Citespace5.8. R1 to conduct a systematic analysis of author collaboration networks, keyword co-occurrence networks, keyword clustering, keyword burstiness, and literature co-citation graph spectrum networks in the domain of blockchain in supply chain management to identify the research state, development trend, hotspots, and frontiers. Research shows that :(1) since 2017, the literature on the application of blockchain in supply chain management has expanded rapidly. China and the United States are particularly advanced in this area compared to other nations. (2) The "blockchain in supply chain management" research mainly focuses on technical framework theory, which uses distributed ledger technology and smart contracts to control supply chain operations. Simultaneously, technical innovation should be combined with artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and other technologies to enhance the trust, transparency, traceability, performance index, and security of the supply chain. (3) The horizon of study in this area is the integration of RFID and blockchain technology for technical innovation in Industry 4.0, intending to improve and optimize each supply chain node.
Keywords: Blockchain; Supply Chain Management; Current status; Hotspots; Knowledge mapping; CiteSpace
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1. Introduction
A supply chain consists of at least three entities involved downstream and upstream movement of commodities, services, finances, and/or information from a source to a customer (Mentzer et al., 2001). It includes producers of finished goods, assemblers of those
products, distributors, retailers, transportation firms, and other cooperating businesses.
Additionally, as globalization accelerates, businesses are increasingly likely to look for partners worldwide, necessitating a more flexible approach to material flow coordination.
Supply chain complexity brings tremendous challenges to supply chain management(Shakhbulatov et al., 2020).
Supply chains are becoming more intricate, extensive, and international (Abeyratne &
Monfared, 2016). As a result, several hazards are associated with contemporary supply chain management, including the risks associated with material flow, financial flow, and flow of information (Tang & Musa, 2011). The opacity of information, the difficulty of traceability, and the distrust among participants have all become considerable risks in supply chain management(Abeyratne & Monfared, 2016). Therefore, avoiding these risks and achieving information transparency, data traceability, and transaction security have become critical in supply chain management. Businesses and academics have undertaken numerous investigations and efforts, and blockchain technology is one of them.
S.Nakamoto coined the term "blockchain" in 2008(Nakamoto, 2008). Blockchain technology is a distributed ledger (Shakhbulatov et al., 2020) that incorporates many unique attributes, including a decentralized organization, distributed notation and storage system, consensus algorithm, intelligent contracts, and asymmetric encryption, to provide information security, accessibility, and transparency (Dutta et al., 2020). Based on the features of blockchain, it is clear that it will improve supply chain management and performance, mainly through cost reduction and increased customer satisfaction, as well as an increased exchange due to increased confidence in the supply chain(Dujak & Sajter, 2019).
Blockchain develops a more significant and pervasive presence in supply chain management and expands relevance. There are numerous ways in which blockchain could impact operations and supply chain management, including increasing product safe and secure environment, enhancing quality control, reducing the incidence of illegal counterfeiting, advancing inventory control and replenishment, eliminating the need for intermediaries, influencing the design and development of new products, and reducing the cost of supply chain transactions (Cole et al., 2019; Dutta et al., 2020).
From a research standpoint, the first article on the use of blockchain in the supply chain was published in 2016, with an upward trend beginning in 2017. The scholarly debate on this topic has never slowed in the last five years, and a massive number of publications have been published. However, a review of the Web of Science platform reveals that there is still a scarcity of research on the application of knowledge mapping analysis to sort and on the characteristics of blockchain in supply chain management. Furthermore, such research must strengthen to analyse the present state of research, hotspots, and frontiers in this subject. This article analyses the academic literature on blockchain in supply chain management statistically and qualitatively from 2017 to 2021 using CiteSpace. The primary purpose of this study is to address the following concerns:
i. to address the increasing tendency in this field's literature.
ii. to investigate the literature from the standpoint of the publishing country/region, publisher, and journal type.
iii. to examine the high frequency and burstiness of keywords.
iv. to discuss the current hotspots and frontiers.
The organization of this article is as follows. The background of the study is provided in the first section. The basic concepts are explained in Section 2. The methodology and the study data are presented in Section 3. The main conclusions are described and discussed in Sections 4 and 5. Section 6 presents the study's findings and suggestions.
2. Basic concepts
2.1 Supply chain management
As illustrated in Figure 1.1, a supply chain is a whole process of creating and delivering a product or service, from the earliest step of getting the raw materials to the final delivery of the commodity or service to end-users. British logistician Keith Oliver is notable for developing the term supply chain management (SCM). He characterized it as "the process of creating, executing, and managing the supply chain operations to satisfy customer demands efficiently. From the point of origin to the point of consumption, it encompasses all movements and storage of raw materials, inventory of work-in-progress, and finished products" (Russell, 2007). The supply chain industry continues to increase as globalization and the digital revolution accelerates. Due to the rise of the supply chain sector, supply chain management has gained attention from academics and the industry. SCM includes the coordination and administration of all the supply chain operations, which is the network of all the organizations engaged in creating and delivering a completed product to the end client.
SCM is the design and management of commodities, information, and cash movements along the supply chain (Sanders, 2020). Supply chain management has been widely considered to control critical business activities throughout the network of enterprises that make up the supply chain.
Figure 1: A simple supply chain flow
2.2 Blockchain
Blockchains originally surfaced as a technology to ease transactions in the bitcoin field in 2008(Nakamoto, 2008). According to Risius and Spohrer's (2017) official description of blockchain technology, a linear event log of transactions between networked entities that are consistent, immutable, and distributed is recorded and stored using cryptography in a blockchain. By assuring the security and integrity of a data record, a blockchain encourages confidence without the need for a trustworthy third party(Schmidt & Wagner, 2019). (Monrat et al., 2019; Nofer et al., 2017; Risius & Spohrer, 2017; Zheng et al., 2018) claim the following unique characteristics of blockchain.
i. A blockchain is a specific kind of distributed database that varies from other databases in that it stores data in blocks that are later linked using cryptography.
ii. Each new data point results in the creation of a new block. After the block has been filled with data, the data is chained together in chronological order by being chained onto the block preceding it.
iii. Although other information may be maintained on a blockchain, a transaction ledger has been its most popular usage.
iv. In the context of Bitcoin, blockchain is decentralized, which means that no one person or organization exercises authority over the network.
v. Immutable decentralized blockchains ensure that the data submitted is irreversible, which implies that transactions made using Bitcoin are publicly visible and permanently recorded.
2.3 Blockchain and Supply Chain Management
It is projected that implementing blockchain technology in an SCM environment would result in disruptive developments for all business sectors. Because of the disintermediation of the transactions, traditional relationship models are already changing. A significant impact on new product development, product security and safety, quality control, lowering the incidence of illegal counterfeiting, sustainable supply chain management, inventory management and replenishment, doing away with the need for market intermediaries, and supply chain transaction costs could be expected from the use of blockchain in supply chain management (SCM)(Queiroz et al., 2019; Saberi et al., 2019).
3. Methodology
3.1 data collection
The Web of Science (WOS) database, which the United States Science Information Service runs, gave sufficient data for this article. Web of Science is the world's biggest comprehensive academic information site, with over 12000 key academic publications in natural science, engineering technology, biomedical science, and other fields of study(Falagas et al., 2008). The search term is TS= (Blockchain AND Supply Chain Management). The retrieval period extends from 2017 and 2021. According to the research direction (computer science, management, engineering, environmental science, social issues, business economics, and other disciplines), language (English), document type (Article), and database (SCI, SSCI), a total of 753 retrieved results were processed to provide 486 references. CiteSpace software stored them in consensus with the text format's requirements.
3.2 Analysis Method
This article mainly uses Citespace5.8. R1 to do visualization research on bibliographical data.
CiteSpace is a Java application that may identify and visualize emerging trends and transient patterns in academic literature. It is meant to visualize advancing knowledge domains and aids analysts in more easily doing quantitative and qualitative research on scientific topics (Chen, 2006). CiteSpace offers a number of features that make it easier to understand and interpret network and historical patterns, including the ability to locate citation hotspots in the world of publications, identify rapidly expanding subject areas, break down networks into clusters, automatically label clusters with terms from cited articles, identify geospatial patterns of collaboration, and identify unique instances of international cooperation (Chen, 2016). This article primarily uses Citespace5.8. R1 to conduct a systematic analysis of author collaboration networks, keyword co-occurrence networks, keyword clustering, keyword burstiness, and literature co-citation graph spectrum networks in the supply chain
management field using blockchain to identify the field's research status, evolution trend, hotspots, and frontiers.
4. Analysis of Document Characteristics of blockchain in supply chain management
4.1 Analysis of annual publications
Changes in the number of publications can directly reflect the discipline's progress. Statistical study of the increase and fall of literature publishing can aid in comprehending the process of blockchain adoption in supply chain management. Statistics on the publishing dates of a sample of relevant literature were compiled, and a temporal distribution line chart was created (Figure 2.). As seen in the image, the number of publications produced each year in the field of supply chain management using blockchain rises exponentially（y
=2.2621e1.0014x, R2 =0.5062）.
The number of published articles increased extremely slowly from 2017 to 2018, showing that researchers paid little attention to the area of "blockchain in supply chain management"
and that research was still in its infancy. Between 2018 and 2019, the number of papers published on this subject rose considerably, and the pace of growth increased as well. The number of publications published on this subject rose significantly between 2019 and 2020.
Since 2020, the number of articles published on this subject has continued to rise significantly, showing that, beginning in 2019, an increasing number of researchers have begun to devote significant attention to this topic, which is undergoing rapid expansion and is on a growth trajectory.
Figure 2: Number of WOS-based research literature on blockchain in supply chain management Source: Literature statistics from the WOS
4.2 Analysis of published countries and regions
CiteSpace was used to conduct a visual analysis of the amount of "blockchain in supply chain management" articles published by various nations and regions. The time-slicing interval was set to one year, and the "Node Types" panel was set to "Country." Figure 3 shows 34 nodes
and 30 links, with the United States occupying the most pivotal position and engaging in direct or indirect cooperative contacts with other nations, followed by China and England.
Further study of the visualization findings resulted in creating a spatial distribution map of paper publishing, as shown in Figure 4. As seen in the figure, the United States and China are the leaders in published papers, with 112 and 98 articles published, respectively, accounting for 23.045 per cent and 20.165 per cent of the total, which is relatively high in this sector.
China and the US are also among the top two in terms of centrality, with 0.44 and 0.65, respectively; this is directly connected to China's and the United States rapid supply chain and blockchain technologies development.
In the area of the supply chain, the United States 2012 National Strategy for Worldwide Supply Chain Security and China's Belt and Road Initiative both promote economic development by establishing a global supply chain and industrial chain. Although China is far behind the United States in the realm of blockchain, China has achieved tremendous progress in technology innovation, application development, and industrial integration of blockchain since incorporating it into its national policy.
Figure 3: Knowledge map of Countries/Regions distribution
Figure 4: Top 10 countries in terms of publication volume
4.3 Analysis of the distribution of subjects and journals
The distribution of subjects and journals can reflect the related subject and emphases involved in the research content of this field, and the statistical analysis can identify the critical subject and core journals involved in the application of blockchain in supply chain management.
4.3.1 Analysis of the distribution of subject
The distribution map of subjects is produced using WOS data statistics, as illustrated in Figure 5. Most literature is classified as engineering, followed by computer science and business economics. Additionally, operational research, management, telecommunications, and ecological and environmental science, among other fields. Not only is the implementation of blockchain technology in supply chain management a management subject, but it is also a comprehensive interdisciplinary subject based on computer, engineering, and other technological approaches.
Figure 5: The Distribution of Subject
4.3.2 Analysis of the distribution of journals
We can determine the number of source journals and the central distribution of research subjects in this discipline by conducting a statistical analysis of published journals. Among them, IEEE ACCESS, SUSTAINABILITY, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PRODUCTION RESEARCH, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFORMATION
MANAGEMENT, JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION COMPUTERS,
INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING, and other journals pay close attention to the content in this field (Figure 6).
Additionally, centrality shows a journal's standing in the field of study. The greater a journal's weight, its centrality and co-citation frequency are greater. As a result, a visual analysis of sample literature from co-cited journals was conducted using CiteSpace, and a visible network spectrum (as seen in Figure 7) was generated, consisting of 488 nodes and 2414 lines.
Figure 6: Top 10 Source publications
Figure 7: Distribution of journal co-citation network Table 1: Ranking the top 10 journals by the centrality
Table 1 summarizes the top ten journals by centrality ranking from Figure 6. As seen in Table 1, academic publications in management science, computer science, and operations research all rank well in terms of centrality, including IEEE ACCESS, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT, Supply Chain MANAGEMENT, and JOURNAL OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT. The above demonstrates that many disciplines are highly interested in blockchain application in supply chain management and that it has a high theoretical application research value.
5. Analysis of research hotspots and frontier
5.1 Analysis of research hotspots
Keywords are a high summary of the article's primary material; you may identify hotspots in the study field by analyzing keywords. To identify research hotspots in the subject of
"blockchain in supply chain management," we used CiteSpace to run a keyword co- occurrence analysis on 468 pieces of literature. The period is set at 2017-2021, with a one- year time slice. After selecting a keyword as the node type, the Keyword emergence network map for this study topic is created, as seen in Figure 8. Additionally, as indicated in Table 2, high-frequency terms with a frequency higher than or equal to 14 are chosen. The network of keyword co-occurrences consists of 314 nodes and 1465 connections. The node reflects the frequency of occurrence, while the node's size indicates the content's theoretical value. The larger the node, the more frequent the node's words are and the more scholarly contribution the node makes. As shown in Table 2, the keywords "blockchain" and "supply chain" were most often used, appearing 319 and 141 times, respectively.
Figure 8: Knowledge map of high-frequency keywords
Table 2: High-frequency keywords, their frequency and centrality
Figure 8 and Table 2 illustrate research hotspots in the field of supply chain management using blockchain. The study of the scholars is concentrated on the theoretical and technological aspects, particularly "smart contracts, distributed ledger technology, Ethereum, and bitcoin." On this basis, academics investigated and created the supply chain management system. As a result, we pay close attention to terms like "framework, system, model, and design." Scholars identified issues with supply chain management, including insufficient traceability, information asymmetry, and a trust crisis. As a result, increased emphasis is placed on studying "traceability, security, trust, and performance" in supply chain management. With the emergence of Industry 4.0, researchers are attempting to connect blockchain technology with the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, and other technologies, thereby emphasizing the terms "internet, big data, and Internet of Things (IoT)."
Additionally, it may be used for "logistics", "food supply chain", and other supply chain systems. However, blockchain technology is still in its infancy and development stages, and there are still obstacles to overcome regarding actual supply chain implementation. As a result, researchers also focus on challenges, future, impact, and other topics.
To illustrate the growth of research hotspots for "blockchain in supply chain management," a keyword clustering timeline is created, as shown in Figure 9. The horizontal axis indicates the year of keyword occurrence, while the vertical axis indicates the cluster number and name.
The cluster's module value is 0.4857(Modularity Q), which is more than 0.3, suggesting that the cluster's internal structure is highly linked, and the network community structure is essential. The average contour value of 0.7756 (Mean Silhouette S) is more extensive than 0.5, implying a satisfactory clustering outcome. The following seven keywords were
identified: #0 smart contract, #1 sustainable supply chain performance, #2 circular economy practice, #3 food supply chain, #4 system architecture, #5 supply chain operation, and #6 fourth industrial revolution.
Figure 9: The Timeline view of keyword clustering
The first cluster (#0 Smart Contracts) is mainly concerned with resolving supply chain trust issues. The supply chain is characterized by numerous connections, heterogeneous information from different sources, and multiple risk factors. There are a variety of issues, such as opaque information, non-standard process operation, and backward management concepts, that have prompted researchers to do a study on supply chain trust. The smart contract is the blockchain's essential component. A smart contract is a computer- programmable transaction that can carry out complex tasks automatically and is stored on the blockchain (Rouhani & Deters, 2019). Chen et al. (2017) investigated intelligent contracts and blockchain technology for supply chain quality control. Bocek et al. (2017) employed smart contracts and Internet of Things sensors to ensure the immutability of temperature records in the pharmaceutical supply chain, lowering costs. (Omar et al., 2020) used blockchain smart contracts to improve vendor-managed inventory supply chain operations.
The second cluster (#1 Sustainable supply chain Performance) and the sixth cluster (#5 Supply chain operation) are primarily concerned with research on supply chain performance.
Supply chain performance is a critical component of supply chain management since it plays a crucial role in the operation and administration of supply chains. Measuring supply chain objectives and providing management decision support is critical. Kamble et al. (2021) proved that blockchain was found to impact organizational resources and supply chain performance by studying the data and cases of the automobile industry. Bag et al. (2020) believed that big data analytics could enhance sustainable supply chain performance as an operational excellence approach. Cherrafi et al. (2018) provided a framework for modelling and establishing connections, and the findings indicate that lean and green practices have a good effect on GSC performance, but process innovation does not.
The third cluster (#2 Circular Economy Practice) mainly studies green supply chain management. The circular economy places a premium on an economic development model defined by resource conservation, recycling, and environmental responsibility. As enterprises
attach more importance to the environment and resources, green supply chain management is gaining more and more favour. A cutting-edge management technique called "green supply chain management" considers all aspects of the supply chain, including corporate profitability, resource use efficiency, and environmental effect. Mubarik et al. (2021) used a quantitative technique to demonstrate blockchain's beneficial effect on green supply chain processes.
Additionally, this connection elucidates the mediating role of environmental orientation. In addition, technological orientation is confirmed as a moderating factor, strengthening the relationship between blockchain technology and green supply chain practices. Green et al.
(2012) evaluated the data of 159 factory managers using a structural equation modelling technique. It is determined that implementing GREEN supply chain management in that manufacturing organization may enhance economic and environmental performance, subsequently improving the company's performance. The effects of green supply chain management on the three pillars of corporate sustainability—economic, environmental, and social performance—were assessed by Çankaya and Sezen (2019).
The fourth cluster (#3 Food supply chain) focuses on the food supply chain. The food supply chain has many links and complex structures. In an era of globalization, there are increasing concerns about food safety and contamination risk; as a result, people are paying greater attention to the quality and safety of food and the food supply chain. As an innovative technology, blockchain enables the effective tracking of all food supply chain connections, the management of all food supply chain data, the provision of more accurate and dependable data, and the improvement of the food supply chain's performance. (Kittipanya-Ngam & Tan, 2020) utilized case studies to examine their food supply chain's practices, problems, and possibilities for digitalization. Agri-Block-IoT was introduced by Caro et al. (2018) as a completely decentralized blockchain-based traceability system for managing the agri-food supply chain that enables seamless integration of IoT devices that generate and consume digital data across the chain. Singh et al. (2021) investigated the effect of COVID-19 on logistical systems and interruptions in the food supply chain.
The fifth cluster (4# System Architecture) focuses on the supply chain framework and design.
Abdel-Basset et al. (2018) used the Internet of Things (IoT) in supply chain management by creating an innovative and reliable system capable of combining data, information, commodities, physical objects, and all supply chain operations. Liu and Li (2020) presented a blockchain-based architecture for product information traceability in cross-border e- commerce supply chains. Using industry 4.0 and circular economy-based solutions, Yadav et al. (2020) developed a framework for addressing supply chain management concerns.
The seventh cluster (#6 Fourth Industrial Revolution) is devoted to the Internet of Things research. With the fast advancement of information technology, individuals have mastered Internet of Things technology, wireless sensor networks, information systems, and RFID radio frequency identification, among other technologies, which are extensively utilized in supply chain management activities. In conjunction with IoT, blockchain technology allows a variety of application scenarios designed to increase value chain visibility and B2B confidence (Rejeb et al., 2019). When IoT and Blockchain technologies are integrated, they have the potential to improve the efficacy and efficiency of current supply chains significantly. Additionally, by conducting a bibliometric analysis of the literature, Ben-Daya et al. (2019) evaluated the influence of IoT on supply chain management, proving that IoT
technology plays a crucial role in prolonging product life, boosting customer happiness, preserving quality standards, decreasing waste, and reducing costs.
5.2 Analysis of research frontier
To further examine the development of research hotspots in the field of supply chain management using blockchain, CiteSpace's burstiness analysis of keywords is used to assess and rank the research frontier by combining the centrality and emergence value of keywords.
Burstiness is set to 0.5, Minimum Duration is set to 1, and 25 emergent words are recognized, as seen in Table 3. As shown in Table 3, the top ten terms with the most significant citation bursts are blockchain, RFID, food traceability, industry 4.0, network, distributed ledger technology, information technology, Ethereum, supply chain performance, and food safety.
Among these, "blockchain" and "RFID" had the highest burstiness, at 3.3319 and 2.6433, respectively. The reason for this is that, with the emergence of Industry 4.0, blockchain technology has garnered interest from all sectors of society, and how to develop blockchain technology has become a hot issue. Later, researchers attempted to merge RFID with blockchain technology to improve data management at each node of the supply chain and guarantee the commodities' quality, security, and transparency.
Table 3: Top 25 Keywords with the Strongest Citation Bursts
6. Conclusions and Suggestions for Future Research
6.1 Conclusions
This article examines and visualizes the literature on blockchain application in supply chain management in the WOS database from 2017 to 2021 at various levels, using CiteSpace, and makes the following findings.
i. In terms of time distribution, the literature on blockchain applications in supply chain management has gained academics' interest since 2017 and has continued to increase dramatically. Since 2019, it has demonstrated a strong growth tendency, indicating that as academic and industrial awareness of blockchain technology grows, it is also being more frequently employed in supply chain management.
ii. In terms of country and region distribution, the United States and China have the highest number of publications on this subject, their publications have a high impact, and their crucial research institutes have collaborated extensively.
iii. In terms of subject and journal distribution, the core journals for blockchain application research in supply chain management include management, operations research, and computer science, among others, and the research content is typically multidisciplinary, as are the research objects.
iv. The visualization analysis reveals that the theory of technological frameworks, distributed ledger technology, and smart contracts for managing supply chain operations are the main areas of study interest for the subject of "blockchain in supply chain management". Technological innovation should be combined with artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and other technologies to increase the supply chain's trust, transparency, traceability, performance index, and security.
v. Based on the burstiness of keywords, it is inferred that the research frontier in this subject is the integration of RFID and blockchain technology for technological innovation in industry 4.0, intending to improve and optimize each supply chain node.
6.2 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research
The following aspects limit our paper. First, the bibliometric data sets from SCI and SSCI in the WOS core Collection are obtained. Various outcomes and conclusions are possible if the data set is obtained from a different database. Consequently, future studies will be able to obtain data from other databases, such as the Scopus database, which likewise contains extensive, well reviewed and chosen scientific data. Second, we define peer-reviewed articles and reviews in English, omitting other categories of literature (such as books or proceedings) and publications in other languages (such as Chinese), which might lead to incomplete data.
Therefore, future research should encompass various publishing forms, including foreign- language publications. Third, most of our evaluation was completed utilizing the scientometric review methodology. We may merge the scientometric review and systematic review techniques in the future.
Even if this article has certain limitations, we remain optimistic that our systematic and exhaustive evaluation gives scholars and practitioners in the area of blockchain in SCM valuable insights and assistance. This paper's conclusions give information about productive nations, influential journals, key ideas, research hotspots, major specializations, and developing trends to help readers comprehend the current status of blockchain technology in SCM. Based on our results, we might recommend further study into the following areas:
i. Basic theories should be further explored. As an innovative technology based on distributed data storage, cryptography, game theory, algorithm, network protocol and other technologies, blockchain involves fundamental theories and methods of mathematics, cryptography, informatics, economics and so on. Although scholars are enthusiastic about the study of blockchain, the research content is scattered, and a lack of a system and systematic theoretical framework has not been formed yet. Therefore, in order to further promote the development of blockchain, it is necessary to form a
theoretical framework of blockchain as soon as possible so as to achieve scientific guidance and theoretical support for future blockchain technology.
ii. Blockchain technology should be further innovated. We should seize the wave of scientific and technological innovation and speed up breakthroughs and innovations in critical technologies such as blockchain consensus mechanism algorithms, security and privacy protection, and smart contracts. Simultaneously, the innovative combination of blockchain with big data, the Internet of Things, radio frequency and other technologies will be realized to realize a digital and intelligent supply chain and provide more robust technical support for the sustainable development of the supply chain.
iii. Blockchain applications in supply chain management should be further expanded. As a kind of underlying technology support, blockchain can carry out application innovation and promotion research in critical supply chain fields, such as finance, commodity traceability, logistics and circular economy, in view of its decentralized, distributed ledger, tamper-proof and traceable characteristics.
iv. Detailed development of blockchain in SCM laws and regulations. The blockchain policy will be refined into relevant policies of various industries, and a targeted blockchain policy will be constructed. In terms of supply chain finance, blockchain technology should be used to integrate the real background information and trade information of upstream and downstream enterprises in the supply chain so as to provide financing services to enterprises in demand to solve the difficult and expensive problem of financing. The government should introduce blockchain regulatory policies to regulate the proper combination of blockchain and supply chain finance. In the logistics industry, the combination of blockchain and an electronic signature is used to replace paper documents in logistics information interaction so as to simplify the interaction process.
The government improves the blockchain policy to promote the interaction process. In terms of cross-border logistics, the government has issued policies to guide the popularization and application of blockchain terminal equipment and logistics systems so as to realize the standardization of logistics information collection, electronic processing, interactive automation and enhance the level of intelligence of the international supply chain.
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