Tax audit and tax compliance: Bibliometric analysis and research trends

Abstract

In a context marked by the globalization of trade, the rise of the digital economy, and the increase in tax evasion and fraud, tax audit and tax compliance emerge as two fundamental concepts in the tax literature. This study aims to present a bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature that has addressed both tax audit and tax compliance. The methodology adopted is based on an analysis of scientific publications in the “Scopus” database between 2000 and 2025. The collected data are analysed using the VOSviewer software through the application of several bibliometric indicators. The results highlight a rapid and sustained growth in scientific publications over the past four years, with a strong geographical concentration of research in developed countries, a trend toward multidimensional models integrating the behavioural, institutional, and technological aspects of tax compliance and the emergence of new research areas, notably fraud detection mechanisms, digitalization, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cooperative compliance, voluntary compliance and governance. This study aims to serve as a reference for future research in the field of “tax audit and tax compliance” by identifying patterns, trends, and gaps in this area of research.