Mapping the knowledge Structure of Self-Help Groups and Women Empowerment under Mission Shakti: Towards an integrated Research Framework.

Abstract

The self-help groups (SHGs) have received a lot of interest as institutions of grassroots activating women empowerment, financial inclusion, and developing communities especially in developing economies. Although the research in this field has expanded rapidly, the current body of work is still disparate in terms of the disciplines, including the field of public health, development economics, and gender studies. The proposed research suggests a bibliometric and science- mapping analysis of the available literature to systematically map the intellectual framework and thematic development of the research on self-help groups and women empowerment (Donthu et al., 2021; Zupic & Čater, 2015). The Scopus and Web of science databases were searched according to PRISMA guidelines and included publications of 1993 to the year 2026. The end dataset has been analysed with the Bibliometrix (Biblioshiny) package in R. Various bibliometric methods have been applied to study the evolution of research field, the performance analysis, citation analysis, the key words co-occurrence analysis, three-field plot analysis, the thematic mapping analysis, the thematic evolution analysis, collaboration network analysis. The results indicate that the academic output has grown significantly in the last ten years. The previous research emphasized more on the peer-support system and the process of addiction recovery, in contrast to the recent studies which put an emphasis on microfinance, women empowerment, rural development, and the formation of social capital. It also determines the key authors, journals, and key countries contributing to the field, which is analyzed. Comprehensively, the study gives a detailed insight into the changing knowledge base of SHG studies and gives research and policy implications of underdeveloping and reinforcing women empowerment and inclusive development.