Kazakhstan's Scientific Output in Economic Disciplines: Collaboration Networks and Citation Analysis

Kazakhstan’s integration into the global scientific landscape is closely tied to the growth and transformation of its publication activity in economics-related disciplines. This study aims to evaluate the evolution of Kazakhstan’s publication activity in economics-related disciplines from 2010 to 2023, with a particular focus on growth in output, the emergence of dominant research themes, changes in international collaboration patterns, and the extent of global citation visibility. Using bibliometric methods applied to a dataset of 3,914 Scopus-indexed publications, the analysis focuses on three subject areas: business, management and accounting; decision sciences; and economics, econometrics and finance. The results reveal a sharp increase in publications, from 18 papers in 2010 to over 500 in 2023, with a peak of 538 in 2022. The findings show sustained growth in research output, particularly after higher education and science reforms. Keyword analysis reveals a shift from locally focused topics, such as development and policy, toward internationally relevant themes, including technology and energy. Citation analysis confirms increasing visibility, with 19,967 citations across 2,860 publications, led by China (2,444), Russia (1,430), and the United States (1,186). These findings indicate that Kazakhstan’s academic community is gradually transitioning from knowledge consumption to production, pointing to its potential for regional leadership. Future research should assess the quality of international collaborations, expand the disciplinary scope beyond Scopus, and incorporate qualitative approaches to capture the depth of research partnerships more effectively.