Abstract

The main purpose of this research is to map the academic contribution of social finance to the discussion in the field of Islamic finance.

An analysis of 788 contributions published in international academic journals, books review and chapters, editorial material and proceedings papers has been done using the bibliometric method.

The findings show that there are a number of journals that have had a higher production on the topic with an impact on research and, furthermore, it emerges that the works of the most relevant authors are made with qualitative methods that have been the most used to demonstrate the link between Islamic finance and social finance. The analysis also shows that the relation between Islamic finance and social finance is linked, among the others, to the words PERFORMANCE, IMPACT RISK, OWNERSHIP, CORPORATE SOCIAL-RESPONSIBILITY, MANAGEMENT, BEHAVIOR and EFFICIENCY, demonstrating that there is also a link with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It has also been observed the keyword evolution through the years which proved a dramatic increase on the academic attention to the topic particularly in the last five years.

Research limitations/implications – The paper’s main limitation is due to the adoption of the bibliometric method because the databases include only part of the scientific papers and not all world’s sources. However, WOS database, the one adopted for the research, is the world’s most complete index even though it is not complete at all. On the other hand, to have a wider landscape of knowledge on the field of research, they have been considered all kind of sources: papers published in international and academic journals, books chapters and reviews, editorial materials and proceedings papers. The implications for academics, institutions, banks, enterprises and customers seem to be very relevant because it is assumed that a lot of work on the field must be done to strengthen the practical relation between Islamic finance and social finance.

Originality/value – This research highlights the increasing relation, from an academic point of view, between Islamic finance and social finance has increased in the last 21 years, especially in the last 5. According to the literature, social finance is a relevant aspect in the present academic discussion on Islamic finance. For these reasons, to map the researches that have been done in this field, the study analyzes the relationship between Islamic finance and social finance.

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