Citation: Qi, B.; Marie, M.; Abdelwahed, A.S.; Khatatbeh, I.N.; Omran, M.; Fayad, A.A.S. Bank Risk Literature (1978–2022): A Bibliometric Analysis and Research Front Mapping. Sustainability 2023, 15, 4508. https://doi.org/10.3390/ su15054508 Academic Editor: Giuliana Birindelli Received: 29 December 2022 Revised: 15 February 2023 Accepted: 24 February 2023 Published: 2 March 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). sustainability Review Bank Risk Literature (1978–2022): A Bibliometric Analysis and Research Front Mapping Baolei Qi 1,2, *, Mohamed Marie 2,3, * , Ahmed S. Abdelwahed 3,4 , Ibrahim N. Khatatbeh 5 , Mohamed Omran 6 and Abdallah A. S. Fayad 7 1 School of Economics and Management, Xinjiang University, Ürümqi 830046, China 2 School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China 3 Faculty of Commerce, Cairo University, Cairo 12613, Egypt 4 School of International Business, Faculty of International Business and Humanities, Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology, Alexandria 21934, Egypt 5 Department of Banking and Financial Sciences, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, The Hashemite University, Zarqa 13133, Jordan 6 International Business School Suzhou, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou 215123, China 7 Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy, Universiti Utara Malaysia, UUM Sintok 06010, Kedah, Malaysia * Correspondence: baoleiqi@xjtu.edu.cn (B.Q.); mohamed_marei@foc.cu.edu.eg (M.M.); Tel.: +86-318-1607-0366/+86-187-0094-6997 (B.Q.) Abstract: This study maps the conceptual structure of the body of knowledge concerning bank risk to understand this research strand better. A bibliometric analysis including 671 publications from January 1978 to October 2022 was conducted to achieve the aim of the study. The analysis of descriptive indicators identifies the main traits of scholars debating bank risk in terms of the annual production of publications; most productive authors, countries, affiliations, and journals; and most cited articles in the dataset. This study performs a co-word analysis by adopting social network analysis tools to analyze the conceptual structure of the dataset. The results highlight growing academic interest in bank risk research topics, especially following the global financial crisis. The bibliometric analysis reveals three main topics concerning the consideration of bank risk: (1) the adoption of risk management and bank risk, (2) the use of bank risk during the financial crisis, and (3) the interrelations between corporate governance and bank risk. Keywords: bank risk; bibliometric analysis; co-occurrences; co-word analysis; conceptual structure map; Scopus 1. Introduction Since the global financial crisis (GFC) of 2008, bank risk has received considerable attention from academics, bankers, and regulators. It is a divergent topic and is related to many functions, whether inside or outside the bank. This crisis highlighted the tendency of banks to take excessive risks to achieve the highest possible returns [1,2]. In addition, bank risks are expected to evolve and change over time, owing to changes inside and outside banks. According to [3], the bank risk function will be different in 2025 than it is today. The continuous increase in banking regulations, promotion of customer expectations, and exponential growth in risk types are the most critical factors that lead to fundamental changes in bank risk management functions. Many studies have shed light on the complexity of the banking industry, which is surrounded by various risks, whether financial or non-financial [4–7]. Over time, banks’ risks have become more threatening to the operations and survival of the entire banking industry [8]. Consequently, banks must understand and determine their risk exposures [9]. Additionally, a deep comprehension of different risks is vital for banks to set appropri- ate risk management strategies to mitigate those risks [10]. Although various studies Sustainability 2023, 15, 4508. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054508 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability