A Bibliometric Study of the Conceptual Science Mapping Structure of Brand Age in the Management Research Domain

Abstract

Brand age has gained interest in recent years in management literature. The aim of this study is to explore the conceptual intelligence, structure, evolution, and emergence of brand age in management research literature. Brand age is an under-researched, nascent, and weakly consolidated concept, with few papers (44) in the Scopus database when researched with the exact term “brand age” dated 19 November 2025 at 10:10 pm. Relevant terms (heritage, nostalgia, aged brands etc) are searched to capture complete conceptual intelligence, relationships, key themes & research streams. The bibliometric approach and science mapping techniques are employed, and the data are extracted from the Scopus database. Results revealed that a total of 343 documents were found, and after inclusion and exclusion criteria, 156 are deemed usable for co-occurrence, citation, and co-citation analysis. The results revealed a surprising outcome that although the data time frame was selected from 1990 to 2026, prior to 2010, research streams were absent, indicating that research in this area only began in the last decade. The network, overlay, and density visualization are also utilized to visualize the density and keyword analysis clusters and their relationships.  Research significance for academia is that it enriched the branding literature by identifying in a direction that will uncover the actual behaviors of consumers in this area. Furthermore, brand managers need this study to curate successful brands and to understand consumer preferences for successful brands.