Purpose

Integration is a key element of supply chain management (SCM) and a lot of research has been executed within the field of supply chain integration (SCI). The purpose of this paper is to particularly identify the intellectual research front and foundation of SCI and how they developed over time.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors examined more than 1,700 peer-reviewed academic papers that were published between 1995 and 2019 in nearly 40 relevant peer-reviewed academic journals (all indexed in Web of Science). The authors analysed the structure of more than 55,000 individual references with the R-package bibliometrix and used VOSviewer for visualization.

Findings

The SCI research front is characterized by papers that show the effects of SCI on the firm performance, the consequences of SCI on SCM in general and present the enablers of SCI. The research front is embedded within the resource-based, transaction cost and contingency theory. The intellectual foundation refers to conceptual modelling, definitional clarification and integration dimensions. The research identifies Frohlich and Westbrook’s (2001) paper as the central reference for this research area. The dynamic evolution of the intellectual foundation of SCI changed from theorising in Phase 1 (1995–2006) towards empirical testing in Phase 2 (2007–2019).

Research limitations/implications

The results refer to the SCI discussion within a preselected number of peer-reviewed academic journals and to the data quality as provided by the Web of Science.

Originality/value

The study explored the research front and intellectual foundation of SCI. It reveals the most important papers and journals of this area by using bibliometric tools such as bibliometrix, biblioshiny and VOSviewer. The paper shows trends in research themes, theories and methodological developments.

中文翻译：

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供应链整合的大局——来自文献计量分析的见解

目的

集成是供应链管理 (SCM) 的关键要素，并且在供应链集成 (SCI) 领域内进行了大量研究。本文的目的是特别确定 SCI 的知识研究前沿和基础以及它们如何随着时间的推移而发展。

设计/方法/途径

作者检查了 1995 年至 2019 年间发表在近 40 种相关同行评审学术期刊（均在 Web of Science 中索引）的 1,700 多篇同行评审学术论文。作者使用 R-package bibliometrix 分析了超过 55,000 份独立参考文献的结构，并使用 VOSviewer 进行可视化。

发现

SCI 研究前沿的特点是论文展示了 SCI 对公司绩效的影响、SCI 对一般 SCM 的影响以及 SCI 的推动因素。研究前沿嵌入了资源基础理论、交易成本理论和权变理论。知识基础是指概念建模、定义澄清和集成维度。该研究将 Frohlich 和 Westbrook (2001) 的论文确定为该研究领域的核心参考。SCI 知识基础的动态演变从第一阶段（1995-2006 年）的理论化转变为第二阶段（2007-2019 年）的实证检验。

研究局限性/影响

结果参考了预先选定数量的同行评审学术期刊中的 SCI 讨论，以及 Web of Science 提供的数据质量。

原创性/价值

该研究探索了SCI的研究前沿和知识基础。它通过使用诸如 bibliometrix、biblioshiny 和 VOSviewer 等文献计量工具揭示该领域最重要的论文和期刊。本文展示了研究主题、理论和方法发展的趋势。