European Funds and Regional Development in Romania: a Bibliometric Mapping of the Last 10 Years

Funding from the European Union has turned into a key tool for driving economic, social, and territorial growth in Romania. Ever since Romania joined the EU in 2007, the European Structural and Investment Funds, along with Cohesion Policy instruments, have been crucial for funding infrastructure, boosting regional competitiveness, developing human capital, fostering innovation, supporting environmental changes, and promoting social inclusion. However, the success of these European funds is still tied to factors like regional disparities, the capacity of institutions, how well funds are absorbed, and the quality of governance. This piece of writing aims to present a comprehensive overview of the scientific studies that have looked into European funds and regional growth in Romania over the past decade. The research involves a systematic bibliometric analysis of publications listed in major scientific databases, focusing on Web of Science and Scopus. By combining descriptive bibliometrics and science-mapping techniques, the analysis seeks to track how scientific output has changed, spotlight key publications and authors, examine collaboration trends, identify leading research topics, explore networks of keyword co-occurrence, and highlight emerging research paths. The analytical framework being proposed brings together analyses like bibliographic coupling, co-citation, co-authorship, and keyword co-occurrence. It pays special attention to the interplay between European funding and areas like regional disparities, territorial cohesion, rural development, innovation, sustainability, institutional capacity, and economic convergence. This study adds to existing knowledge by offering a structured insight into the growth of research concerning European funds and regional development in Romania while also pointing out research gaps. The results are anticipated to guide future investigations on how effective European funding is and its role in achieving balanced and sustainable regional development in Romania.