MAPPING FORENSIC ACCOUNTING’S SCHOLARLY LANDSCAPE IN NIGERIA: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF FRAUD DETECTION AND PREVENTION RESEARCH

Nigeria’s persistent exposure to financial fraud and systemic corruption has intensified the demand for robust investigative tools, with forensic accounting emerging as a critical mechanism for enhancing transparency, accountability, and institutional integrity. Despite its theoretical promise, the scholarly engagement with forensic accounting in Nigeria remains fragmented and underdeveloped. This study conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of 138 peer-reviewed articles published between 2017 and 2025, retrieved exclusively from the Scopus database, to examine the intellectual structure, thematic evolution, and research gaps in forensic accounting and fraud-related scholarship. Using the Bibliometrix package in RStudio, the study maps publication trends, identifies prolific authors and institutions, visualises co-authorship networks, and explores keyword co-occurrence and thematic clusters. The findings reveal a steady growth in scholarly output, with international collaboration moderately present but Nigerian contributions notably sparse despite the country’s high corruption index. Dominant themes include fraud detection, forensic audit techniques, and data analytics, while emerging areas such as blockchain, smart contracts, and AI-driven fraud prevention remain underexplored. This study underscores the need for context-specific frameworks, interdisciplinary collaboration, and strategic investment in Nigeria's forensic accounting education and research infrastructure. This can be achieved by illuminating the structural dynamics and intellectual gaps within the field. This study offers actionable insights for scholars, policymakers, and anti-graft institutions seeking to leverage forensic accounting to combat financial crime.