---
title: "Global value chains research: papers and trends"
description: "From 2017 to 2026 (so far), the keyword “global value chains” appeared in 866 papers in the tracked journals, most of them in economics (543), management (233) and finance (62)."
url: https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/global-value-chains
markdown_url: https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/global-value-chains.md
license: CC BY-NC 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)
share_text: "From 2017 to 2026 (so far), the keyword “global value chains” appeared in 866 papers in the tracked journals, most of them in economics (543), management (233) and finance (62). (as of 2026-11-03)"
data_url: https://scholar4ai.com/data/rankings.json
updated: 2026-11-03T18:03:37+09:00
window: 2026-10-05 to 2026-11-03
source: OpenAlex (CC0)
---

# Papers on “global value chains”

Research on “global value chains” in the 480 tracked journals: papers per year and category, the journals, institutions and countries publishing it, the keywords studied with it and its most-cited papers. It is not among the most frequent keywords of the last 30 days, so this page has no list of its latest papers.

Back to the ranking: https://scholar4ai.com/rankings/keywords.md

## Key findings

- From 2017 to 2026 (so far), the keyword “global value chains” appeared in 866 papers in the tracked journals, most of them in economics (543), management (233) and finance (62).
- 132 of them were published in 2025, against 39 in 2017.
- Since 2023, the institutions with the most of these papers were University of International Business and Economics (14), Roma Tre University (13) and University of Manchester (11).
- The journals publishing most of them were Structural Change and Economic Dynamics (46), Journal of International Business Policy (25) and Review of World Economics (23).
- The most-cited of them is “Global value chains: A review of the multi-disciplinary literature” (Journal of International Business Studies, 2020), with 765 citations.

## Papers per year

*Papers per publication year and category*

| Category | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 (so far) |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|
| [Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/economics.md) | 28 | 31 | 30 | 53 | 54 | 51 | 70 | 62 | 84 | 80 |
| [Management](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/management.md) | 7 | 13 | 12 | 22 | 39 | 20 | 21 | 25 | 34 | 40 |
| [Finance](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/finance.md) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 16 |
| [Operations Research](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/operations-research.md) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| [Information Systems](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/information-systems.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| [AI](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/ai.md) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| [Accounting](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/accounting.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| [Health Economics and Policy](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/health-economics-and-policy.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| [Marketing](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/marketing.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| [Higher Education and Research](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/higher-education-and-research.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| All categories | 39 | 47 | 45 | 82 | 98 | 78 | 102 | 99 | 132 | 144 |

## Where the papers come from

*Journals with the most papers, since 2023*

| # | Journal | Papers |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | [Structural Change and Economic Dynamics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/structural-change-and-economic-dynamics.md) | 46 |
| 2 | [Journal of International Business Policy](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-international-business-policy.md) | 25 |
| 3 | [Review of World Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/review-of-world-economics.md) | 23 |
| 4 | [International Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/international-economics.md) | 23 |
| 5 | [Economic Analysis and Policy](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/economic-analysis-and-policy.md) | 19 |
| 6 | [International Review of Economics & Finance](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/international-review-of-economics-finance.md) | 16 |
| 7 | [Journal of International Business Studies](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-international-business-studies.md) | 14 |
| 8 | [Finance research letters](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/finance-research-letters.md) | 14 |
| 9 | [Technological Forecasting and Social Change](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/technological-forecasting-and-social-change.md) | 13 |
| 10 | [World Development](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/world-development.md) | 13 |

*Institutions with the most papers, since 2023*

| # | Institution | Papers |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | [University of International Business and Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/university-of-international-business-and-economics.md) | 14 |
| 2 | Roma Tre University | 13 |
| 3 | [University of Manchester](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/university-of-manchester.md) | 11 |
| 4 | [Capital University of Economics and Business](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/capital-university-of-economics-and-business.md) | 10 |
| 5 | [Renmin University of China](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/renmin-university-of-china.md) | 9 |
| 6 | [University of Vaasa](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/university-of-vaasa.md) | 9 |
| 7 | [Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/universita-cattolica-del-sacro-cuore.md) | 9 |
| 8 | [Chinese Academy of Sciences](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/chinese-academy-of-sciences.md) | 7 |
| 9 | [University College London](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/university-college-london.md) | 7 |
| 10 | [University of Groningen](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/university-of-groningen.md) | 7 |

*Countries with the most papers, since 2023*

| # | Country | Papers |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | China | 143 |
| 2 | United States | 71 |
| 3 | United Kingdom | 69 |
| 4 | Italy | 64 |
| 5 | Germany | 33 |
| 6 | France | 33 |
| 7 | Spain | 24 |
| 8 | Canada | 23 |
| 9 | Netherlands | 23 |
| 10 | India | 21 |

*Keywords with the most papers, since 2023*

| # | Keyword | Papers |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | [multinational corporations](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/multinational-corporations.md) | 53 |
| 2 | [developing countries](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/developing-countries.md) | 45 |
| 3 | [foreign direct investment](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/foreign-direct-investment.md) | 37 |
| 4 | GVC participation | 36 |
| 5 | [China](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/china.md) | 31 |
| 6 | backward linkages | 25 |
| 7 | [manufacturing industry](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/manufacturing-industry.md) | 25 |
| 8 | [international trade](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/international-trade.md) | 24 |
| 9 | [COVID-19 pandemic](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/covid-19-pandemic.md) | 22 |

## Most-cited papers

*Most-cited papers since 2017*

| # | Citations | Per month | Title | Journal | Published | Authors |
|---:|---:|---:|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 765 | 9.5 | [Global value chains: A review of the multi-disciplinary literature](https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-020-00304-2) | [Journal of International Business Studies](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-international-business-studies.md) | 2020-02-25 | Liena L. Kano, Eric W. K. Tsang, Henry Wai‐chung Yeung |
| 2 | 691 | 9.1 | [What does the COVID-19 pandemic teach us about global value chains? The case of medical supplies](https://doi.org/10.1057/s42214-020-00062-w) | [Journal of International Business Policy](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-international-business-policy.md) | 2020-07-15 | Gary Gereffi |
| 3 | 680 | 7.2 | [De-Globalization: Theories, Predictions, and Opportunities for International Business Research](https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-019-00219-7) | [Journal of International Business Studies](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-international-business-studies.md) | 2019-01-01 | Michael A. Witt |
| 4 | 524 | 7.3 | [World Investment Report 2020: International production beyond the pandemic](https://doi.org/10.1057/s42214-020-00078-2) | [Journal of International Business Policy](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-international-business-policy.md) | 2020-10-26 | Axèle Giroud, Inge Ivarsson |
| 5 | 405 | 5.5 | [How should we understand the digital economy in Asia? Critical assessment and research agenda](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elerap.2020.101004) | [Electronic Commerce Research and Applications](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/electronic-commerce-research-and-applications.md) | 2020-09-09 | Kai Li, Dan Jong Kim, Karl Reiner Lang et al. |

## Cite this page

Scholar4AI. (2026). Papers on “global value chains”. Journal and Conference Research Rankings. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/global-value-chains

```bibtex
@misc{scholar4ai-keywords-global-value-chains,
  author = {{Scholar4AI}},
  title = {Papers on “global value chains”},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/global-value-chains}},
  urldate = {2026-11-03},
  note = {Journal and Conference Research Rankings; data from OpenAlex (CC0); licensed CC BY-NC 4.0}
}
```

License: CC BY-NC 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).