Mapping the Scientific Landscape of Interoperability, Data Sharing, and Digital Public Services
A bibliometric exploration for developing a DPP-like approach to digital public documents in Mexico
Digital transformation in government is no longer limited to putting forms online or converting paper-based procedures into PDFs. Increasingly, public administrations are expected to exchange data across agencies, reduce duplication, provide integrated services, protect privacy, authenticate records, and create trusted digital infrastructures. In this context, interoperability becomes a central condition for modern public service delivery.
This post presents an exploratory bibliometric analysis of a Scopus corpus built around the following query:
TITLE-ABS-KEY
(“interoperability” OR “data sharing” OR “information sharing” OR “data exchange” OR “information exchange”)
AND
(“public administration” OR government OR “public sector” OR “digital government” OR “e-government”)
AND
(“public service” OR “administrative procedure*” OR “government service*” OR “service delivery” OR “one-stop shop*” OR “single window”)*
The purpose of the analysis is not only to describe the literature, but also to support a broader research idea: official public documents can be studied as DPP-like digital objects. In other words, documents such as permits, certificates, licenses, constancias, land-use authorizations, civil registry records, and administrative resolutions could be understood as structured, verifiable, interoperable, and reusable data containers, similar in logic to Digital Product Passports, but applied to public administration.
The figures below were generated using Bibliometrix/Biblioshiny in RStudio. Together, they show how the field is structured in terms of authors, countries, keywords, references, thematic clusters, intellectual traditions, and collaboration networks.
1. Author production over time: a specialized but distributed field
The first figure, Authors’ Production over Time, shows the temporal evolution of the most visible authors in the corpus. Rather than being dominated by one single author or school, the field appears to be organized around several specialized research groups.
Authors such as Efthimios Tambouris, Vassilios Peristeras, Yannis Charalabidis, Victoria Kalogirou, Miguel Alvarez-Rodriguez, Robert Krimmer, Omar El Beqqali, Barakat Oumkaltoum, and Ioannis Konstantinidis appear prominently. Their production reflects different but connected research streams: European interoperability frameworks, e-government services, public service modelling, semantic interoperability, data sharing, and technical architectures for digital government.
The temporal pattern suggests that earlier contributions were more strongly linked to e-government architectures, one-stop shops, service integration, and information exchange. More recent contributions increasingly connect interoperability with semantics, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, authentication, and data-centric public services.
This is relevant for my research because it confirms that government interoperability is not simply a software issue. It is a long-term field of inquiry involving public administration, institutional coordination, technical standards, semantic models, and trusted data exchange.
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Figure 1. Authors’ production over time in the Scopus corpus on interoperability, data sharing, digital government, and public service delivery.
2. Country production: a global but uneven research field
The country production figure shows the geographical distribution of scientific output. China stands out as the most productive country in the corpus, followed by countries such as Indonesia, the United States, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Greece, India, Italy, Malaysia, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, Korea, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Austria, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia.
The production-over-time table adds an important dynamic perspective. China grows dramatically across the period, while Indonesia, India, Belgium, and Greece also show strong increases. Belgium and Greece are especially relevant because they are connected to European research traditions on interoperability frameworks, semantic public services, and cross-border digital government.
The figure also distinguishes between Single Country Publications (SCP) and Multiple Country Publications (MCP). Some countries show a strong domestic research base, while others are more internationally collaborative. This suggests that the field combines national digital government agendas with international research networks.
For Mexico, this is important. Although Mexico does not appear as a central country in this map, the topic is clearly global. A Mexican study on interoperable public documents could contribute to an international conversation while adding a Latin American institutional perspective that is still underrepresented.
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Figure 2. Country scientific production and collaboration patterns in research on interoperability, data exchange, and digital public service delivery.
3. Most globally cited documents: the broader intellectual anchors
The Most Globally Cited Documents figure identifies the papers in the corpus with the highest global citation impact. The most influential document is Mergel, Edelmann, and Haug (2019) on defining digital transformation in the public sector. This article is important because it frames digital transformation not as simple digitization, but as a deeper change in public-sector processes, organizational routines, transparency, service delivery, and interoperability.
Other highly cited documents introduce important themes such as blockchain in government, AI in the public sector, open data, spatial data infrastructures, collaborative data networks, and democratic e-governance. Together, these documents show that the field is built around a broad set of concerns: technological change, institutional transformation, trusted data exchange, public value, transparency, and service modernization.
For my research, these globally cited documents provide the broader justification for treating digital public documents as part of public-sector data infrastructures. If public services increasingly depend on data sharing, authentication, verification, and interoperability, then official documents should no longer be treated as isolated outputs. They should be studied as reusable and verifiable data objects embedded in institutional systems.
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Figure 3. Most globally cited documents in the Scopus corpus on interoperability, data sharing, digital government, and public service delivery.
4. Most locally cited references: the internal foundations of the corpus
While global citations show broader influence, local citations show which references are most frequently cited within this specific corpus. The Most Local Cited References figure reveals a relatively dispersed intellectual structure. The highest local citation counts are modest, suggesting that the field is interdisciplinary and fragmented rather than organized around one dominant canonical tradition.
Key locally cited works point to several foundations:
First, classic e-government maturity literature helps explain how public administration evolves from basic online presence toward integrated and transactional services.
Second, open data and public-sector information-sharing literature shows that making data available is not enough. Reuse depends on standards, incentives, usability, institutional rules, and trust.
Third, interagency information-sharing literature highlights both the benefits and risks of exchanging public-sector data: efficiency, coordination, privacy, accountability, data quality, and institutional control.
Fourth, blockchain-oriented references indicate growing concern with authenticity, traceability, tamper-resistance, and verification.
Finally, public value and transparency-oriented references connect digital government with accountability, anti-corruption, service quality, and democratic legitimacy.
For a DPP-like approach to Mexican public documents, these local references are highly relevant. They show that official documents are not just administrative artifacts. They are institutional information objects whose value depends on rules, trust, verification, interoperability, and reuse.
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Figure 4. Most locally cited references in the Scopus corpus. Local citations indicate how often each reference is cited within the analysed dataset.
5. Most frequent words: the conceptual vocabulary of the field
The Most Frequent Words figure confirms that the corpus is structured around a clear conceptual core. The most frequent terms are interoperability, e-government, public services, and public administration.
This result partly reflects the search query, but it is still analytically useful. It confirms that the literature connects technical interoperability with public-sector transformation and service delivery. The presence of terms such as government data processing, data sharing, blockchain, information services, digital transformation, and e-government services shows that the corpus goes beyond generic digital government. It specifically addresses how public information is processed, exchanged, verified, and reused.
For my research, the key insight is that official public documents can be positioned at the intersection of these concepts. A license, certificate, permit, or constancia is an output of government data processing, but it may also become an input for another administrative procedure. If designed properly, it can function as a machine-readable, verifiable, and interoperable object.
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Figure 5. Most frequent keywords in the Scopus corpus on interoperability, data sharing, digital government, and public service delivery.
6. Words’ frequency over time: from e-government to data-centric transformation
The Words’ Frequency over Time figure adds a temporal perspective. It shows the cumulative evolution of the main keywords between 2015 and 2026.
The strongest long-term trajectories belong to interoperability and e-government, which remain the two dominant conceptual anchors. However, other terms also grow significantly, especially public services, public administration, government data processing, and data sharing.
This suggests that the field has evolved through three broad stages.
In the first stage, around 2015–2018, the literature focused on e-government foundations, information services, and technical integration.
In the second stage, around 2019–2022, the field expanded toward public administration, public services, and data sharing. This reflects a shift from technical integration toward institutional coordination and service transformation.
In the third stage, around 2023–2026, newer concerns such as digital transformation, blockchain, artificial intelligence, privacy, and authentication become more visible. This indicates that digital government research is moving toward trusted, intelligent, and data-centric infrastructures.
For the Mexican public-document research agenda, this evolution is important. It supports the argument that digital public documents should not remain static PDFs. They should evolve into data objects that can support interoperability, verification, administrative simplification, and service integration.
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Figure 6. Cumulative frequency of the main keywords over time in the Scopus corpus.
7. Trend topics: emerging concerns in the literature
The Trend Topics figure provides a more nuanced view of thematic evolution. Early terms include enterprise architecture, ontology, semantic web, government data processing, information services, and e-government services. These terms reflect the technical and architectural foundations of digital government.
Around the middle of the period, terms such as interoperability, e-government, public administration, public services, data sharing, and electronic data interchange become central. This marks the consolidation of the field around public service delivery and interagency data exchange.
More recent terms include digital government, public sector, blockchain, authentication, data privacy, public policy, artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. This shows that the literature is increasingly concerned with trusted digital infrastructures, data protection, AI-enabled government, and broader institutional change.
This figure strongly supports the DPP-like public-document argument. If public documents become reusable and interoperable, then privacy, authentication, public policy, and governance become central design issues. The challenge is not only to digitize documents, but to define who can issue, access, verify, update, and reuse their data.
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Figure 7. Trend topics in the Scopus corpus on interoperability, data sharing, digital government, and public service delivery.
8. Co-occurrence network: the conceptual structure of the corpus
The Co-occurrence Network shows how keywords are connected to each other. The largest and most central nodes are interoperability, e-government, public services, public administration, and government data processing.
The network reveals two major conceptual cores.
The first core, shown around e-government and public administration, includes terms such as public services, information services, digital government, service delivery, interoperability framework, semantic web, ontology, open data, artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. This cluster reflects the public-service and institutional modernization side of the field.
The second core, located around data sharing and blockchain, includes data sharing, blockchain, electronic data interchange, data privacy, network security, transparency, efficiency, government agencies, information management, and data governance. This cluster reflects the trust, verification, security, and data-governance side of the field.
The most important insight is that the research opportunity lies precisely between these two cores. Digital public documents are both service-delivery instruments and trusted data objects. They must be usable in administrative procedures, but also verifiable, secure, interoperable, and governed by clear rules.
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Figure 8. Keyword co-occurrence network in the Scopus corpus. Node size reflects keyword frequency; links represent co-occurrence relationships; colors indicate thematic clusters.
9. Thematic map: basic, motor, niche, and emerging themes
The Thematic Map helps identify the strategic position of the main themes. In Bibliometrix, the horizontal axis indicates centrality, or relevance to the field, while the vertical axis indicates density, or internal development.
The largest basic theme is interoperability – e-government – public services. This cluster is highly central but broad, meaning it provides the foundation for the entire field. It confirms that interoperability is not a secondary technical detail. It is a basic condition for digital public service delivery.
The motor themes include public administration – semantics – interoperability framework and data sharing – blockchain – block-chain. These themes are both central and well developed. They represent the more advanced research fronts of the field: semantic interoperability frameworks and trusted data-sharing infrastructures.
The emerging or declining area includes government – data interoperability – sustainable development and a near-central cluster around digital transformation – public sector – decision making. This is important because it suggests that the connection between digital transformation, decision-making, and institutional governance is still evolving.
For my research, the thematic map provides a clear positioning strategy. A DPP-like framework for public documents can be located at the intersection of basic themes and motor themes: interoperability, e-government, public services, semantic frameworks, data sharing, blockchain, and public administration.
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Figure 9. Thematic map of the Scopus corpus. Centrality indicates relevance within the field; density indicates internal development of the theme.
10. Factorial analysis: two complementary logics
The Factorial Analysis figure shows the latent conceptual structure of the corpus. The first dimension explains 33.69% of the variation, while the second explains 16.02%. Together, they capture almost half of the conceptual structure represented in the map.
The map suggests two broad logics.
On one side are terms related to data sharing, blockchain, network security, data privacy, transparency, efficiency, information systems, and information management. This can be interpreted as a technical-trust logic focused on secure exchange, verification, reliability, and institutional confidence.
On the other side are terms such as interoperability, e-government, public administration, government data processing, e-government services, semantic web, semantics, interoperability framework, governance, and European Union. This can be interpreted as an institutional-service logic focused on public-sector modernization, administrative coordination, semantic standards, and service delivery.
A DPP-like model for public documents sits exactly between these two logics. Public documents must be trusted and verifiable, but they must also be interoperable and reusable. Their value depends on both technical trust mechanisms and institutional governance frameworks.
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Figure 10. Factorial analysis of keywords in the Scopus corpus. Dimension 1 explains 33.69% of the variance and Dimension 2 explains 16.02%.
11. Co-citation network: intellectual traditions behind the field
The Co-citation Network maps authors and references that are frequently cited together. This figure shows the intellectual architecture of the corpus.
The most central node is Gil-Garcia, whose work is associated with digital government, smart government, inter-organizational information integration, public value, and institutional challenges in data sharing.
Another major cluster includes Charalabidis, Kalogirou, Lampathaki, Sarantis, and Loutsaris, reflecting European digital government, public service modelling, interoperability frameworks, and semantic interoperability.
A third important cluster includes Tambouris, Peristeras, Zuiderwijk, Van Noordt, and related authors, connecting e-government, open data, public-sector innovation, and interoperability-oriented public services.
The network also shows a public administration and governance tradition through authors such as Brandsen, Nabatchi, Sørensen, Bryson, and Christensen, and a technical semantic-web tradition through authors such as Apostolou, Stojanovic, Verborgh, and related scholars.
This confirms that the field is interdisciplinary. It draws from digital government, public administration, semantic technologies, open data, information systems, governance, and public value research.
For my article, this is useful because digital public documents also require an interdisciplinary framework. They are not just technical artifacts. They are legal, administrative, semantic, organizational, and governance objects.
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Figure 11. Co-citation network of the Scopus corpus. Node size reflects prominence of cited authors; links indicate how frequently authors are cited together.
12. Collaboration network: research communities and co-authorship
The Collaboration Network shows actual co-authorship relationships. Unlike co-citation, which maps intellectual influence, collaboration maps who publishes together.
The network reveals several research communities. One cluster appears around Alvarez-Rodriguez, Kalogirou, and Charalabidis, linked to European digital government and interoperability research. Another important cluster includes Tambouris, Peristeras, Krimmer, Konstantinidis, and related collaborators, reflecting work on e-government, once-only principles, service integration, and interoperability. A further cluster around Mannens and Van Compernolle appears related to linked data and semantic technologies. The cluster around Omar El Beqqali and Barakat Oumkaltoum reflects a more technical stream involving e-government architectures, information systems, data warehousing, and cloud-related approaches.
The collaboration network suggests that the field is collaborative but fragmented. It contains strong specialized groups, but not one fully integrated global network.
This mirrors the institutional challenge of interoperability itself. Just as researchers work in specialized but connected communities, government agencies also operate in specialized institutional silos. The challenge is to connect them through shared standards, rules, vocabularies, and data-governance mechanisms.
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Figure 12. Collaboration network of authors in the Scopus corpus. Links represent co-authorship relationships; colors indicate collaboration clusters.
13. Countries’ collaboration world map: international knowledge flows
The Countries’ Collaboration World Map shows international co-authorship links. The strongest country-pair collaboration in the table is Belgium–Greece, followed by links such as China–United Kingdom, China–United States, India–United States, and USA–Australia.
Europe appears as a dense collaboration region, with links among Belgium, Greece, Estonia, Germany, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Portugal, Italy, Sweden, France, and Cyprus. This reflects the importance of European interoperability research, especially in contexts where public services must operate across borders and institutions.
The map also shows broader global connections involving China, India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Kenya, Oman, South Africa, Peru, Ecuador, Morocco, and other countries.
Mexico appears only through a limited link with Spain, but this is precisely why the research opportunity is interesting. A Mexican case on digital public documents could extend the debate into Latin America and connect local administrative challenges with global discussions on interoperability, data sharing, digital identity, and public service transformation.
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Figure 13. Countries’ collaboration world map in the Scopus corpus. Lines represent international co-authorship links between countries.
14. Three-field plot: connecting references, authors, and keywords
The Three-Field Plot integrates three dimensions: cited references, authors, and merged keywords. It shows how the intellectual foundations of the field connect to active contributors and dominant concepts.
The strongest keywords on the right side are interoperability, e-government, public services, and public administration. In the middle, authors such as Kalogirou, Peristeras, Mechant, Mannens, Alvarez-Rodriguez, Krimmer, Tambouris, Omar El Beqqali, Konstantinidis, and Charalabidis serve as bridges between references and themes. On the left side, cited references include authors and sources connected to European interoperability, digital government, public administration, open data, service delivery, and regulation.
This plot confirms that the field has a recognizable architecture:
foundational references → active authors → dominant themes
The dominant chain is centered on:
interoperability + e-government + public services + public administration
This provides a strong basis for positioning digital public documents within the field. Public documents can be studied as institutional objects that connect legal authority, data structures, administrative processes, interoperability standards, and service-delivery systems.
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Figure 14. Three-field plot linking cited references, authors, and merged keywords in the Scopus corpus.
Synthesis: toward a DPP-like framework for digital public documents
Across all figures, one consistent message emerges: digital government interoperability is evolving from a technical integration problem into a broader institutional data-governance challenge.
The keyword figures show that the field is centered on interoperability, e-government, public administration, public services, government data processing, and data sharing. The trend figures show that newer concerns include digital transformation, artificial intelligence, blockchain, authentication, data privacy, and public policy. The co-occurrence and thematic maps show that the field is structured around service delivery, semantic interoperability, trusted data sharing, and institutional governance. The co-citation and collaboration networks show that the field draws from digital government, public administration, semantic web, open data, and public value traditions.
This provides a strong foundation for the idea that official public documents can be analysed as DPP-like digital objects.
A Digital Product Passport organizes product-related data so that it can be accessed, verified, exchanged, and reused across a value chain. Similarly, a digital public document could organize government-issued data so that it can be verified, exchanged, and reused across public agencies, administrative procedures, and levels of government.
Under this logic, a public document would not be merely a PDF with a QR code. It would be a structured institutional data object containing:
- verified data fields;
- metadata;
- issuing authority;
- legal validity;
- access rights;
- authentication mechanisms;
- semantic standards;
- interoperability rules;
- privacy controls;
- reuse conditions;
- institutional responsibilities.
This approach would be especially relevant for Mexico, where administrative procedures often require citizens and firms to repeatedly submit the same information to different offices. A DPP-like model for public documents could help reduce duplication, strengthen verification, support administrative simplification, and improve trust in government-issued records.
Conclusion
The bibliometric analysis suggests that the literature on interoperability, data sharing, and digital public services has matured significantly. It is no longer limited to e-government portals or technical integration. The field now addresses semantic interoperability, data governance, public value, blockchain, AI, privacy, authentication, and institutional transformation.
For my research, the most important conclusion is that digital public documents should be studied as part of a broader public-sector data infrastructure. Their value does not come only from being digital. Their real value emerges when they are interoperable, verifiable, reusable, machine-readable, and institutionally governed.
This opens a promising research path: applying a DPP-like logic to Mexican public documents in order to analyse how official records can become trusted data infrastructures for digital government, administrative simplification, and public service transformation.
General methodological note
This bibliometric analysis should be interpreted as exploratory. Some central terms, such as interoperability, e-government, public administration, and public services, are influenced by the search query itself. Therefore, the strongest analytical value lies in how these terms connect with related concepts such as data sharing, government data processing, semantic web, ontology, blockchain, authentication, data privacy, artificial intelligence, and digital transformation.
For future refinement, it would be useful to harmonize keyword variants such as blockchain/block-chain, e-government/e-governments/egovernment, and data governance/data governances before generating final visualizations. The bibliometric findings should also be complemented with manual reading of the most relevant documents, especially those connected to interoperability frameworks, interagency data sharing, digital public service delivery, semantic standards, and public-sector data governance.