Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration: A Bibliometric Review in Comparative Perspective

The paper provides an in-depth examination of artificial intelligence (AI) research in public administration by comparison with the business sector. The results of bibliometric analysis on 1758 documents for public administration and 2163 documents for the private sector from the Scopus database published until 2022 reveal the growth of the research after 2000, whereby the growth was much faster in public administration than in the business sector. Most research has been conducted by several prominent authors from the United States, followed by the United Kingdom and China and published in several prominent journals. Further insights reveal the development of different AI (related) technologies over time, main research hotspots and most characteristic keywords for public administration and the business sector. The findings have the potential to benefit not only the scientific community by serving as a valuable resource for identifying associated research gaps but also evidence-based policymaking aimed at effectively addressing the challenges associated with AI in public administration in the future.