Purpose Islamic banking and finance (IBF) have been the subject of central scientific interest, as demonstrated by the significant increase in publications on the subject in recent years. In the present paper, the use of the bibliometric analytical technique is proposed to examine the research on IBF. The purpose of this study is to carry out a bibliometric analysis of all the publications on Scopus relative to IBF. Design/methodology/approach The screening methodology conducted in May 2020, in the foreground, for precise research and as complete as possible, sought all references to “Islamic finance” or “Islamic bank” in “all fields” of Scopus and 7,662 scientific contributions were found. Therefore, the results include a time frame for publications between 1980 and 2020. Findings This study shows that the literature on Islamic finance focusses on banking, rates, comparisons with traditional banks and portfolios, analysis of governance and control structures. In the journals taken into consideration in this paper from which the sample of selected articles comes, it can be deduced that the ethicality of the finance and the bank is placed in second place. Originality/value Through analysis, citation rates are proposed, and the impact factors of journals are quantitative and objective indicators directly linked to published science. The implications of this paper are to identify the future trend of research in the field of IBF.

Social finance and banking with an embedded social purpose have been on the rise in recent decades. Social entrepreneurs have repeatedly stressed the critical need for financial support from social banks. This study aims to provide a bibliometric analysis of the status of the field in social finance and banking, recognising main topics from existing research and establishing future re-search challenges. Our study used science mapping workflow and multiple research questions to investigate the broad literature about social banking and finance. With in-depth bibliometric analysis, authors examined qualitative and quantitative variables as primary research infor-mation, relevant sources, subject areas, authors data, social, thematic and intellectual structure. The data was retrieved from Web of Science (WOS) and then analysed using Bibliometrix R-package. The analysis was based on a sample of 270 articles and demonstrates a multidisciplinary vision of the research flow investigated. Our results show several insights regarding journals, authors and geographical interest of this research stream. Specifically, the literature, although dwelling on social finance and banking, includes five theoretical and practical clusters as (1) people’s well-being, combined with technological innovation, (2) governance, (3) ethical investment and sustainable development, (4) corporate social responsibility (CSR), and (5) transparency. The authors also note a line of research that observes technological solutions for the response to social and environmental problems. These results may be useful for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to foster social finance and financial system tools.