This paper presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of entrepreneurship and draws on empirical data to map its evolution over the last 125 years. Its primary objective is to synthesize the fragmented research literature into a comprehensive narrative, advancing beyond the scope of a typical bibliographic review. A Publish or Perish application was run on the most relevant scientific databases, yielding 6,078 papers with 4,918,303 citations, excluding patents and unpublished papers. In addition, 117 sources were drawn from the scholarly literature and used to underpin and augment the empirical findings of this study. The study identifies a number of paradigmatic phases in the study of entrepreneurship: little was written on the subject prior to 1950; a modest body of knowledge emerged in the 1960s and 1970s; the study of entrepreneurship was fully institutionalized in the 1980s and 1990s; and it rapidly expanded in the 2000s and 2010s. The study also examines the historical development of the field into the multifaceted discipline it has become, including research on emerging fields such as digital entrepreneurship, sustainable entrepreneurship, and social innovation. The article discusses the implications and offers suggestions for future research to further advance the discipline.
Dias et al. (2026) studied this question.