Public projects such as infrastructure works and public-private partnerships (PPPs), healthcare, environmental action, and digital government represent important collective resources. However, understanding of how these projects perform remains fragmented across sectors and disciplines, limiting cross-sector comparison and theoretical generalisation. This paper analyses the evolution of research on the performance of public projects during the last two decades by using bibliometric mapping with 1,406 Scopus publications (2005–2025). We utilise VOSviewer and Biblioshiny to analyse citation networks, keyword co-occurrence, and thematic evolution as a means of mapping the intellectual development of the field as well as identifying future directions. Four thematic clusters organise the literature: (1) construction and PPP projects; (2) health service provision; (3) environmental and rural/urban development initiatives; and (4) ICT-enabled interventions. Publication output has increased since 2011 with highly prolific authors from English-speaking countries and East Asia. Conceptually, the field demonstrates a progression from narrow delivery metrics towards broader success logics centred on collaborative governance and public value. This paper contributes beyond descriptive bibliometric reviews by explicitly linking bibliometric patterns with an interpretive synthesis of governance and value, offering an integrating platform for theory development and future evaluation designs that address public value concerns, governance–performance mechanisms, political mechanisms, and Global South perspectives.
Ramadanty et al. (Mon,) studied this question.