Mapping the Intellectual Structure of Goods and Services Tax (GST) Research in India: A Scopus-Based Bibliometric Analysis and Science Mapping (2012–April 2026)

Purpose: This study maps the intellectual structure, thematic evolution, and emerging research frontiers of Goods and Services Tax (GST) scholarship in India through a systematic bibliometric analysis. Design/methodology/approach: Following a PRISMA-compliant retrieval and screening protocol, 211 English- language, peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2012 and April 2026 were extracted from Scopus using a refined TITLE-ABS-KEY search combining "GST"/"Goods and Services Tax" with "India"/"Bharat". Performance analysis and four complementary science-mapping techniques—thematic mapping, thematic evolution, trend-topic analysis, and keyword co-occurrence overlay visualisation—were conducted using Biblioshiny (bibliometrix R-package, v.4.x) and VOSviewer (v.1.6.20), following a standardised keyword thesaurus. Findings: Publication output was negligible before 2016, accelerated sharply after the 2017 GST rollout, peaked at 33 articles in 2019, and surged again to 31 articles in 2025 following the GST 2.0 rationalisation. Economic and Political Weekly is the leading outlet (16 papers), while Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science & Technology, and Amity University are the most prolific institutions. The conceptual structure comprises four quadrants: motor themes (msme–gdp–sme; tax revenue–tax efficiency–tax efforts), basic themes (gst–india–indirect tax; tax reform–itc–indian economy; demonetisation–covid-19– economic growth), a trending core (taxation–economics–public policy; VAT–SGST–CGST), niche themes (sentiment analysis–e-governance–twitter), and declining themes (ardl model–gst revenue; indian automobile sector; supply chain management). Thematic evolution traces a shift from an undifferentiated "gst" node (2012– 2020) to differentiated taxation/covid-19/msme clusters (2021–2023), converging into GST–taxation–tax reform–tax revenue nodes in 2024–2026. Emerging frontiers identified include GST 2.0 rationalisation and fiscal federalism, AI-enabled compliance and blockchain-based GST networks, health-related excise taxation, and cryptoasset taxation. Originality/value: This is among the first Scopus-indexed studies to combine performance analysis with four complementary science-mapping techniques to chart the near-decade-long evolution of India's GST research field and to propose a structured future research agenda.