This study aimed to identify the characteristics of research in government transparency through a bibliometric study. For this purpose, we used 55 papers from the Web of Science database and identified that the majority of studies were published in the USA (46%), followed by England (19%). In addition, 54% of authors who write on the subject are associated to US institutions and 16% to British institutions. The most productive research institution was the University of California, followed by Harvard and the University of Copenhagen. The most productive authors were Alt, Lassen and Stasavage, while the most frequently cited authors were Alesina, Cukierman, Besley, Persson and Franzese. The most reported paper was the one written by Faust and Svensson (2001) and the keyword used the most was information, followed by transparency. The co-citation networks are very dynamic because no area of knowledge has appropriated the theme of this research subject so far.