---
title: "Research in September 2026: top topics and papers"
description: "In September 2026, the tracked journals published 3,992 papers (finance 671, accounting 67, economics 931, management 483, operations research 519, AI 1,321). The most frequent keywords were “large language models” (124), “China” (120) and “Chinese listed companies” (104)."
url: https://scholar4ai.com/reports/2026-09
markdown_url: https://scholar4ai.com/reports/2026-09.md
license: CC BY-NC 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)
share_text: "In September 2026, the tracked journals published 3,992 papers (finance 671, accounting 67, economics 931, management 483, operations research 519, AI 1,321)."
data_url: https://scholar4ai.com/data/rankings.json
updated: 2026-10-26T18:01:08+09:00
window: 2026-09-27 to 2026-10-26
source: OpenAlex (CC0)
---

# Research published in September 2026

What the tracked finance, accounting, economics, management, operations research and AI journals published in September 2026, by publication date in OpenAlex. This page is a fixed monthly record: its address does not change. Counts can still grow a little as late papers are indexed, and citations are updated daily.

## Key findings

- In September 2026, the tracked journals published 3,992 papers (finance 671, accounting 67, economics 931, management 483, operations research 519, AI 1,321).
- The most frequent keywords were “large language models” (124), “China” (120) and “Chinese listed companies” (104).
- Compared with their share in the twelve months before, the keywords that grew most were “geopolitical risk” (35 papers, +13), “institutional quality” (31 papers, +11) and “foreign direct investment” (25 papers, +10).
- The institutions with the most papers were Chinese Academy of Sciences (54), Hong Kong Polytechnic University (49) and Tsinghua University (44).
- China was involved in 41% of the papers.
- The most-cited paper published that month is “Government Share Ownership and Innovation: Evidence from European Listed Firms” (Journal of Banking & Finance), with 14 citations so far.

## Papers by category

*Papers published in September 2026*

| Category | Papers |
|---|---:|
| [Finance](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/finance.md) | 671 |
| [Accounting](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/accounting.md) | 67 |
| [Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/economics.md) | 931 |
| [Management](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/management.md) | 483 |
| [Operations Research](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/operations-research.md) | 519 |
| [AI](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/ai.md) | 1,321 |

## Top keywords

*Most frequent keywords, September 2026*

| # | Keyword | Papers |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | [large language models](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/large-language-models.md) | 124 |
| 2 | [China](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/china.md) | 120 |
| 3 | [Chinese listed companies](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/chinese-listed-companies.md) | 104 |
| 4 | [corporate governance](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/corporate-governance.md) | 73 |
| 5 | [emerging markets](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/emerging-markets.md) | 65 |
| 6 | [artificial intelligence](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/artificial-intelligence.md) | 52 |
| 7 | [financial constraints](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/financial-constraints.md) | 52 |
| 8 | state-owned enterprises | 49 |
| 9 | [information asymmetry](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/information-asymmetry.md) | 48 |
| 10 | [digital transformation](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/digital-transformation.md) | 47 |
| 11 | [graph neural networks](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/graph-neural-networks.md) | 44 |
| 12 | [contrastive learning](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/contrastive-learning.md) | 41 |
| 13 | [explainable AI](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/explainable-ai.md) | 38 |
| 14 | class imbalance | 35 |
| 15 | geopolitical risk | 35 |

## Growing keywords

*Papers in September 2026 beyond the keyword's share in the twelve months before*

| Keyword | Papers | At earlier share | Extra papers |
|---|---:|---:|---:|
| geopolitical risk | 35 | 21.6 | +13.4 |
| institutional quality | 31 | 20.1 | +10.9 |
| foreign direct investment | 25 | 14.5 | +10.5 |
| inverted U-shaped relationship | 22 | 11.6 | +10.4 |
| vehicle routing | 20 | 10.4 | +9.6 |
| stablecoins | 12 | 2.9 | +9.1 |
| Pakistan | 10 | 1.8 | +8.2 |
| human-AI collaboration | 17 | 8.9 | +8.1 |
| financial intermediation | 10 | 2.3 | +7.7 |
| cryptocurrency | 13 | 5.5 | +7.5 |

## Top keywords by category

*The five most frequent keywords per category, September 2026*

| Category | Most frequent keywords |
|---|---|
| [Finance](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/finance.md) | Chinese listed companies (60); China (39); corporate governance (34); emerging markets (32); financial constraints (29) |
| [Accounting](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/accounting.md) | corporate governance (9); Chinese listed companies (5); artificial intelligence (4); moderating effect (4); ESG performance (3) |
| [Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/economics.md) | China (68); Chinese listed companies (21); energy transition (21); financial constraints (18); state-owned enterprises (18) |
| [Management](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/management.md) | digital transformation (20); dynamic capabilities (17); Chinese listed companies (16); artificial intelligence (15); corporate governance (15) |
| [Operations Research](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/operations-research.md) | vehicle routing (19); demand uncertainty (15); multi-objective optimization (15); mixed integer programming (13); robust optimization (13) |
| [AI](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/ai.md) | large language models (96); graph neural networks (41); contrastive learning (40); explainable AI (34); class imbalance (33) |

## Institutions

*Institutions with the most papers, September 2026*

| # | Institution | Papers |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | [Chinese Academy of Sciences](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/chinese-academy-of-sciences.md) | 54 |
| 2 | [Hong Kong Polytechnic University](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/hong-kong-polytechnic-university.md) | 49 |
| 3 | [Tsinghua University](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/tsinghua-university.md) | 44 |
| 4 | [Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/centre-national-de-la-recherche-scientifique.md) | 40 |
| 5 | [Peking University](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/peking-university.md) | 35 |
| 6 | [Beijing Institute of Technology](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/beijing-institute-of-technology.md) | 34 |
| 7 | [Southwestern University of Finance and Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/southwestern-university-of-finance-and-economics.md) | 34 |
| 8 | [University of Electronic Science and Technology of China](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/university-of-electronic-science-and-technology-of-china.md) | 34 |
| 9 | [Xi'an Jiaotong University](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/xi-an-jiaotong-university.md) | 34 |
| 10 | [Wuhan University](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/wuhan-university.md) | 33 |

## Countries

*Countries, September 2026*

| # | Country | Papers |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | China | 1,628 |
| 2 | United States | 489 |
| 3 | United Kingdom | 273 |
| 4 | Australia | 145 |
| 5 | Germany | 142 |
| 6 | Italy | 138 |
| 7 | France | 131 |
| 8 | Hong Kong | 128 |
| 9 | India | 113 |
| 10 | South Korea | 110 |

## Journals

*Journals with the most papers, September 2026*

| # | Journal | Papers |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | [Expert Systems with Applications](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/expert-systems-with-applications.md) | 318 |
| 2 | [Pattern Recognition](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/pattern-recognition.md) | 218 |
| 3 | [Knowledge-Based Systems](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/knowledge-based-systems.md) | 158 |
| 4 | [Finance research letters](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/finance-research-letters.md) | 138 |
| 5 | [International Review of Economics & Finance](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/international-review-of-economics-finance.md) | 122 |
| 6 | [Neural Networks](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/neural-networks.md) | 107 |
| 7 | [Information Processing & Management](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/information-processing-management.md) | 78 |
| 8 | [Information Fusion](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/information-fusion.md) | 78 |
| 9 | [Transportation Research Part E Logistics and Transportation Review](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/transportation-research-part-e-logistics-and-transportation-review.md) | 74 |
| 10 | [Economic Analysis and Policy](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/economic-analysis-and-policy.md) | 69 |

## Equations and models

*Most-mentioned equations and models, September 2026 (titles, abstracts and keywords)*

| # | Equation or model | Papers |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | [Linear and integer programming](https://scholar4ai.com/equations/linear-and-integer-programming.md) | 46 |
| 2 | [Logistic regression (logit)](https://scholar4ai.com/equations/logistic-regression-logit.md) | 45 |
| 3 | [Difference-in-differences](https://scholar4ai.com/equations/difference-in-differences.md) | 44 |
| 4 | [Scaled dot-product attention (Transformer)](https://scholar4ai.com/equations/scaled-dot-product-attention-transformer.md) | 39 |
| 5 | [Ordinary least squares (OLS)](https://scholar4ai.com/equations/ordinary-least-squares-ols.md) | 38 |
| 6 | [Instrumental variables (two-stage least squares)](https://scholar4ai.com/equations/instrumental-variables-two-stage-least-squares.md) | 33 |
| 7 | [Propensity score matching](https://scholar4ai.com/equations/propensity-score-matching.md) | 28 |
| 8 | [Contrastive loss (InfoNCE)](https://scholar4ai.com/equations/contrastive-loss-infonce.md) | 25 |
| 9 | [Two-way fixed-effects panel regression](https://scholar4ai.com/equations/two-way-fixed-effects-panel-regression.md) | 23 |
| 10 | [Graph neural network (graph convolution)](https://scholar4ai.com/equations/graph-neural-network-graph-convolution.md) | 21 |

## Datasets

*Most-mentioned datasets, September 2026 (titles, abstracts and keywords)*

| # | Dataset | Papers |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | OR-Library | 16 |
| 2 | CSMAR | 9 |
| 3 | S&P 500 | 9 |
| 4 | World Development Indicators (World Bank) | 9 |
| 5 | International Energy Agency (IEA) | 8 |
| 6 | Compustat | 7 |
| 7 | Facebook | 7 |
| 8 | VIX | 7 |
| 9 | YouTube / TikTok | 7 |
| 10 | CIFAR-10 / CIFAR-100 | 5 |

## Most-cited papers published in September 2026

*Most-cited papers published in September 2026 (citations counted by OpenAlex, updated daily)*

| # | Citations | Per month | Title | Journal | Published | Authors |
|---:|---:|---:|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | 9.5 | [Government Share Ownership and Innovation: Evidence from European Listed Firms](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2026.107826) | [Journal of Banking & Finance](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-banking-finance.md) | 2026-09-11 | Bernardo Bortolotti, Veljko Fotak, Brian Wolfe |
| 2 | 13 | 7.6 | [Ridesharing and the redistribution of economic activity](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2026.103905) | [Journal of Urban Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-urban-economics.md) | 2026-09-04 | Caitlin Gorback |
| 3 | 13 | 8.4 | [AI and perception biases in investments: An experimental study](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2026.104350) | [Journal of Financial Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-financial-economics.md) | 2026-09-09 | Anastassia Fedyk, Ali Kakhbod, Peiyao Li et al. |
| 4 | 11 | 8.6 | [Geopolitical risk and inflation: The role of energy markets](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinteco.2026.104336) | [Journal of International Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-international-economics.md) | 2026-09-17 | Marco Pinchetti |
| 5 | 9 | 8.1 | [Machine-learning about ESG preferences: Evidence from fund flows](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2026.104361) | [Journal of Financial Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-financial-economics.md) | 2026-09-22 | George O. Aragon, Shuaiyu Chen |
| 6 | 9 | 8.6 | [Sustainable organizations](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2026.104357) | [Journal of Financial Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-financial-economics.md) | 2026-09-24 | Thomas Geelen, Jakub Hajda, Jan Starmans |
| 7 | 7 | 5.2 | [Self-eXplainable AI for medical image analysis: A survey and new outlooks](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.inffus.2026.104791) | [Information Fusion](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/information-fusion.md) | 2026-09-15 | Junlin Hou, Sicen Liu, Yequan Bie et al. |
| 8 | 7 | 6.9 | [Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning for Foundation Models](https://doi.org/10.1007/s11263-026-03004-w) | [International Journal of Computer Vision](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/international-journal-of-computer-vision.md) | 2026-09-25 | Dan Zhang, Tao Feng, Lilong Xue et al. |
| 9 | 6 | 6.0 | [Nonparametric identification of first-price auction with unobserved competition: A density discontinuity framework](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconom.2026.106345) | [Journal of Econometrics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-econometrics.md) | 2026-09-30 | Emmanuel Guerre, Yao Luo |
| 10 | 6 | 3.3 | [Insiders, outsiders, and involuntary unemployment: Sexual harassment exacerbates gender inequality](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jce.2026.08.001) | [Journal of Comparative Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-comparative-economics.md) | 2026-09-01 | Daniel L. Chen, Jasmin K. Sethi |

## Cite this page

Scholar4AI. (2026). Research published in September 2026. Journal Research Rankings. Retrieved October 26, 2026, from https://scholar4ai.com/reports/2026-09

```bibtex
@misc{scholar4ai-reports-2026-09,
  author = {{Scholar4AI}},
  title = {Research published in September 2026},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://scholar4ai.com/reports/2026-09}},
  urldate = {2026-10-26},
  note = {Journal 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/).