The document focuses on trends in project management literature from 1966 to 2015, summarizing methodologies and key findings based on bibliometric research. It categorizes various project management topics and identifies shifts in academic interest over the years, highlighting both gaps and emerging areas for future research. Additionally, it discusses data collection, cleansing processes, and the overall implications of the research for academic staff and personal development in the field.

1. Trends in Project Management
1966 - 2015
David Biggins, Therese Lawlor-Wright, Lynne Truelove
Wednesday 7 September 2016

2. 2
What’s coming up
• Presentation vs paper
• Why?
• Previous research
• Methodology and method
• Findings
• Limitations
• Future research

3. 3
Presentation vs paper
• Presentation focuses on the method, some
findings and next steps
• Of more use/interest to the audience?
• Perhaps BAM will consider a PM Track?
• Full findings in the paper

4. 4
Why?
• Academic rationale
• Build and expand on past bibliometric research
• Enabled by growth in online repositories
• Past trends highlight areas of interest and fads
• Past trends predict future directions
• Identify gaps in research
• Of interest/use to academic PM staff
• Use as a basis for future research
• Personal rationale
• Justification for my PhD topic

5. 5
Similar research
Year Authors Period Scope Records
1995 Betts and Lansley 1983-1992 IJPM 347
2000 Themistocleous and Wearne 1984-1998 IJPM and PMJ 748
2000 Urli and Urli 1987-1996 ABI-inform 3,565
2000 Zobel and Wearne 1996-1998 4 PMI conferences 633
2000 Morris et al APMBoK 3rd edition APMBOK N/A
2002 Kloppenborg and Opfer 1960-1999 Online sources 3,554
2006 Crawford et al 1994-2003 IJPM and PMJ 1,051
2007 Smyth and Morris 2005 IJPM 68
2008 Carden and Egan 1968-2004 IJPM and PMJ 98
2009 Artto et al 1986-2007 23 business (but no PM journals) 1,681
2009 Kwak and Anbari 1950s-2007 18 business (but no PM journals) 537
2009 Ika 1986-2004 Project success in IJPM and PMJ 30
2010 Williams 1998-2007 IJPM and PMJ 828
2011 Biedenbach and Müller 1994-2007 3 IRNOP conferences 116
2015 Pollack and Adler 1962-2012 Web of Science and Scopus 94,472

6. 6
Methodology
• Aim – to identify the trends in PM literature, in
the last 50 years
• Objectivist ontology – knowledge is reached
through reason and there is a single reality
• Positivist epistemology – knowledge is
observable
• Sample – PM-related records in 4 online
repositories between 1966-2016
• Quantitative method – the numbers tell the story

7. 7
Method
• Identification
• Extraction
• Data cleansing
• Categories and topics
• Search engine creation

8. 8
M1. Identification
Source
Scopus
IEEE Xplore
Web of
Science
EBSCOhost

9. 9
M1. Identification
Source Search
Scopus
Search for “project management” in article title,
abstract and keywords, between 1966-2015
IEEE Xplore
Search for “project management” in basic search,
between 1966-2015
Web of
Science
Search for “project management” in topic
EBSCOhost
Search for "project management" in title, abstract
or subject terms, between 1966-2015 in the
English language.

10. 10
M1. Identification
Source Search
Matching
records
Scopus
Search for “project management” in article title,
abstract and keywords, between 1966-2015
86,276
IEEE Xplore
Search for “project management” in basic search,
between 1966-2015
15,180
Web of
Science
Search for “project management” in topic 12,597
EBSCOhost
Search for "project management" in title, abstract
or subject terms, between 1966-2015 in the
English language.
44,600
158,653

11. 11
M2. Extraction
• Via file export / import
• Multiple extracts eg 58 files for Scopus
• Use of 3rd party application for EBSCOhost
extract

12. 12
M3. Data cleansing
• Source data
• Corruption by the
export/import
• Spelling eg US/UK
• Category designation
• Duplicate removal
• Field matching
• Formatting eg forenames,
case, end full stop

13. 13
M3. Data cleansing
116,202

14. 14
M4. Categories and topics
Nr Category Topics
1 Strategic alignment Strategy; business case; program/programme management; portfolio management; benefits; alignment;
organisational change; financial appraisal; prioritisation
2 Project success Project success; project management success; success factors; success criteria
3 Stakeholder management Stakeholder; customer satisfaction
4 Project evaluation Organisational learning; performance management; project review; project appraisal
5 Planning Planning; estimating; scope management; schedule; scheduling; PERT; critical path; critical chain;
activity network
6 Iron triangle Time management; Cost management; Quality; TQM; total quality management; Earned value; EVM
7 Project start-up Initiation; startup; start up
8 Project execution and control Reporting; change control; life cycle; lifecycle; monitoring; control
9 Project close Project close; testing; commission; handover; acceptance
10 Risk management Risk
11 Procurement Procurement; purchasing; contract management
12 Soft skills Soft skills; conflict management; leadership; negotiation; problem solving; teamwork; decision making;
trust
13 Environment Legal; health; safety; environment; environmental impact; sustainability; culture; public sector; private
sector
14 Project organisation Project organisation; roles; responsibilities; communication; PMO; sponsor; executive; maturity
15 Project management method Project management method; PRINCE2; PMBOK; APMBOK; Body of knowledge; BOK; agile; scrum;
governance
16 Personal development Training; accreditation; qualification; experience; certification; competence

15. 15
M5. Search engine
• Within Excel
• Choose category, search for topics
• Max 1 match per record
• Between 348k – 3.5m searches per category

16. 16
Findings

17. 17
All Scopus records by year

18. 18
PM records by year

19. 19
Source publications
Type Records Type Records
Conference Paper 45,233 Article in Press 116
Article 31,622 Editorial 100
Unknown 22,182 Report 64
Review 8,701 Chapter 50
Short Survey 2,167 IEEE Standards 22
Book 2,063 Letter 14
Note 1,442 Erratum 6
Conference Review 720 Abstract Report 4
Series 699 eBooks 4
Book Chapter 502 IEEE Courses 1
Business Article 490 Total 116,202

20. 20
Category prevalence

21. 21
Category graphs
Planning Organisation Risk Procurement
Environment Iron triangle Closure Success
Exec & Control Soft skills Stakeholder Start-up
Personal Dev Strat Alignment Methods Evaluation

22. 22
Trends
Nr Category Matches Slope
13 Project environment 29,508 4.4
6 Iron triangle 15,491 2.7
10 Risk management 11,910 2.5
1 Strategic alignment 13,147 1.9
16 Personal development 18,965 1.6
3 Stakeholder management 5,138 1.5
14 Project organisation 18,039 1.2
15 Project management method 3,543 1.1
12 Soft skills 15,022 1.1
2 Project success 2,800 0.9
9 Project close 8,698 0.6
11 Procurement 3,431 0.3
7 Project start-up 999 0.07
4 Project evaluation 644 -0.05
8 Project execution and control 28,934 -0.9
5 Planning 38,243 -1.1

23. 23
Limitations
• Descriptive
• Data cleansing severity
• English language publications
• Incomplete electronic records eg PMI
• Many journals/conferences missing
• Categories and topics
• Analysis of citation data not possible

24. 24
Future research
• Understand the data eg the 2004 peak
• Develop into a journal article
• Further analysis – emergent topics, keywords ..
• Add 2016 data
• Identify seminal works using citations
• Dataset is available from the author
please email dbiggins@bournemouth.ac.uk
• Caveats about the data quality

25. 25
Thank you

26. 26
Planning

27. 27
Project environment

28. 28
Project execution and control

29. 29
Personal development

30. 30
Project organisation

31. 31
Iron triangle

32. 32
Soft skills

33. 33
Strategic alignment

34. 34
Risk management

35. 35
Project close

36. 36
Stakeholder management

37. 37
Project management methods

38. 38
Procurement

39. 39
Project success

40. 40
Project start-up

41. 41
Project evaluation