Bibliometric Survey of Foreign Exchange Reserves

Quantitatively assess the academic quality of Foreign Exchange Reserve journals or

authors by statistical methods such as citation rates using Scopus Database

A Bibliometric Survey Submitted to the

Associate Faculty
Krishna Kanta Roy

Submitted by
21021241194
21021241146
210 21241147

Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Nagpur

Submitted on
February, 2022.
S.NO TITLE PAGE
NUMBER

1. TITLE AND ABSTRACT 3

2. INTRODUCTION 3

3. FRAMING OF THE KEYWORDS 6

4. ANALYSIS USING THE SCOPUS DATABASE 6

5. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE OF WORK 16

6. REFERENCES 17

2|Macroeconomics SIBM Nagpur

TITLE
Bibliometric Survey of Forex Reserves

ABSTRACT
In this study, we have focused our attention on Foreign Exchange Reserve as it has gained the
attention of many researchers all around the globe. In addition, the increased foreign exchange in the
process of globalization significantly impacts the profitability and operations of enterprises making it
essential to understand the topic in greater depth.
For many countries, especially in the emerging markets, the official foreign exchange reserves are both
a major national asset and a crucial tool of monetary and exchange rate policy. It is vital therefore that
this national resource is used and managed wisely and effectively. Management of reserves is a
complex and time-consuming business. It requires clear objectives, extensive delegation, strong
control systems, open and transparent reporting and a realistic appreciation of the constraints faced.
If conducted properly, openly and successfully it will greatly strengthen the public's respect for and
confidence in official policy, and can make a material contribution to successful macro-economic
management. Thus, the main purpose of the paper is to understand the contribution that was made
regarding this topic.
This study thus employed the bibliometric analysis to evaluate the literature on Foreign Exchange
Reserves. Bibliometric analysis is a statistical approach used to represent developments in a research
topic and identify future research directions. The bibliometric analysis was based on 1633 documents
spanning from 1959 to current (2022). The visualization and content analysis results showed that the
literature on foreign exchange reserve has been growing since 2001 and had a downfall in year 2020
probably due to Pandemic that hit globally, and a great deal of it has shown that foreign exchange
reserve significantly affects the overall performance of both local and multinational corporations.
Many papers also concluded that an understanding of foreign exchange assets/reserves by investors
and businesses can greatly affect their holdings. Based on this study’s exploration of current research
streams in the field, directions for future research are proposed.
Keywords: Foreign Exchange Reserves; Exchange Rate; Monetary Policy; Financial Crisis; Central Bank;
Currency Market; FX Rate

INTRODUCTION
Foreign exchange reserves are assets like foreign currencies, gold reserve, SDR, and deposits with IMF,
treasury bills, bonds, and other government securities. This reserve is held to provide back up support
to the government liabilities like; various bank reserves deposited with the central bank by the
government or financial institutions and issuance of local currency by the Central Bank.

Foreign exchange reserves refer to foreign assets held by the central bank of a country. RBI is the
custodian of the foreign exchange reserves in India. Foreign assets comprise assets that are not
denominated in the domestic currency of the country. For example, US government bonds held by the
Bank of Japan are foreign assets for Japan. For most central banks (or central monetary authorities),
foreign exchange reserves consist of foreign currency (cash) that generates no income and foreign
government bonds (fixed income instruments) that generate income in the form of interest payments.
Foreign assets generate income in foreign currency. For example, US government bonds pay interest
in US dollars, and Japanese government bonds pay interest in Japanese yen.

3|Macroeconomics SIBM Nagpur

List of countries with the highest Foreign Exchange Reserve:-

Foreign exchange reserves(millions

Rank Country
of US$)
1. China 3,091,459
2. Japan 1,368,567
3. Switzerland 823,765
4. Russia 562,900
5. India 487,039
6. Taiwan 481,782
7. Saudi Arabia 474,171
8. Hong kong 441,200
9. South Korea 404,000
10. Brazil 339,317

Composition of Foreign Exchange Reserves: -

Foreign exchange reserve is composed of foreign currency assets, gold, Special Drawing Rights (SDR),
and reserve position in the IMF. The total collection of the Indian foreign exchange reserve was US$
487039 million. This total collection has a combination of the above-mentioned items.

As of 15 May 2020; the total reserve of the Indian foreign exchange reserve was US$ 487039 million
or US$ 487 billion. The biggest contributor in this reserve is foreign currency assets i.e. US$ 448670
million followed by the gold (US$32906 million), SDR of US$ 1425 million, and reserve with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Indian Foreign Exchange Reserve Composition is as follows,

Purpose and Benefits of the Foreign Exchange Reserve: -

Foreign exchange reserves serve many purposes but the most significant objective behind its holding
is to ensure that a central government agency (RBI in India) has backup funds if their national currency
rapidly devalues or becomes all together insolvent. Foreign exchange reserves are also used to
influence monetary policy. If the value of domestic currency decreases due to an increase in demand
of the foreign currency then the central government of India or other countries sells the dollar in the
Indian money market so that depreciation of Indian currency can be checked.

4|Macroeconomics SIBM Nagpur

A country with a good stock of foreign exchange has a good image at the international level because
the trading countries can be sure about their payments. India was on the brink of declaring defaulter
at the international level during the 1991 financial crisis. A country with good forex reserves attracts
a good chunk of foreign trade and earns faith in trading partners.

Other information about the Foreign exchange reserves: -

- Most foreign exchange reserves are held in U.S. dollars because it is the most traded currency in the
world.
- China has the world highest Foreign exchange reserves i.e. US$3.1 trillion
- It is quite surprising that the USA has a forex reserve of just US$ 129,264 million in March 2020.
- India has the fifth largest forex reserve in India.
- Indian forex reserves had touched a life-time high of USD 487 billion on March 6, 2020.

Economists think that it’s better to hold foreign exchange reserves in a currency that is not directly
connected to the country’s domestic currency. Foreign exchange reserve is like the health meter of an
economy. If a country has a good chunk of forex reserve its financial condition is assumed to be very
sound at the international level.

Coming specifically to Foreign Exchange Reserve, an excellent overview of the current state of this
area is given in the review article by Donghyun Park (2008). A detailed coverage of Foreign Exchange
Reserve algorithms has been given by various authors.

In this paper, we have carried out a bibliometric survey of the various publications in the field of
Foreign Exchange Reserves. We have used the Scopus database to carry out a bibliometric survey of
publications in Foreign Exchange Reserve over 63-year period from 1959 to 2022. Major contribution
by Morrison W. M majorly in Social Sciences. The authors evaluate various metrics including increase
in the annual growth of publications, number of average citations per paper, top 10 countries
dominating the research, international collaboration, top 30 organizations and authors, and top 20
journals where most of the research work has been published. Finally, the authors list out 1633
publications, each with more than 100 citations. Several reviews in the literature have examined big
data analytics in healthcare from various aspects.

5|Macroeconomics SIBM Nagpur

Framing of the keywords
After trying out various combinations of the keywords, we finalized on the following set of keywords:
“Foreign Exchange Reserves” OR “Exchange Rate” OR “Monetary Policy” OR “Financial Crisis” OR
“Central Bank” OR “Currency Market” OR “FX Rate” OR “Foreign Exchange Reserves”.

This was based on the following observations:

(1) In earlier sets of keywords, there were overlaps in the meanings of the keywords.

(2) Some of the acronyms had multiple expansions across other disciplines for searching the database,
thus including papers that were not relevant in the present context.

(3) It was important to include non-overlapping keywords which would help in getting as complete a
coverage as possible of the research being done in various aspects of Forex Reserves.

(4) Each of the keywords that we selected identifies a largely non-overlapping set of algorithms or
related physical and/or mathematical foundations on which the algorithms are based

Analysis using Scopus database

In this section, we present a detailed bibliometric analysis of data which the Scopus database has
provided. As explained in the Introduction, that Forex Reserves is an age-old area of research.

In Figure 1, Quantitative Analysis of major contributing country in regards of Foreign Exchange

Publications. The highest contributing country in regards of Research in area of Foreign Exchange is
United States with 395 research papers and followed by China with 153 papers published. India is third
contributing Country for Research in Foreign Exchange Reserves Analytical and empirical relationship.

Fig 1. Country/ Territory Contributing to Research in Foreign Exchange Reserves

It is evident from the figure that the research in Foreign Exchange Reserve is being carried out globally.

6|Macroeconomics SIBM Nagpur

Figure 2.1 and figure 2.2 shows the number of documents that have been published in a span of 63
years from 1959 to 2022.

Fig2.1 Number of Documents Published from 1959-2022

Fig2.2 Number of Documents Published from 1959-2022 (Graphical Representation)

It is clear from the figure 3.1 and figure 3.2 that the surge in publications in this area started only from
2001 onwards. Henceforth, we restrict our analysis to the

Fig3.1 Number of Documents Published from 2001-2022

Fig3.2 Number of Documents Published from 2001-2022(Graphical Representation)

7|Macroeconomics SIBM Nagpur

Year Documents

2020 123 From Table it is clear that Highest Publication of Foreign Exchange related
Document majorly included article (713) followed by Conference Paper (147)
2011 107

2012 100

2021 97

2013 83

2014 78

2019 77

2017 73

2018 73 Fig 4 Document Type Publication on Foreign Exchange Reserve in Y-2020

2010 72

2016 71

2015 66

2008 66

2009 60

2007 55

2005 33

2003 33

2006 32

2004 25 Fig 5 Subject Area Specialization of Publication on Foreign Exchange Reserve in Y-2020

2002 23 The major contribution to the articles in Foreign Exchange Reserves covered
the Subject Specialization in Social Sciences (364) followed by Economics,
2022 19 Econometrics and Finance.
2001 18

Fig 6.1 Document Per Year by Source 1959-2022

8|Macroeconomics SIBM Nagpur

Source Documents

45 The Source of 45 document under Foreign Exchange

Journal Of Reserve in span of 1959-2022 majorly contributed under
International the source of Journal of International Money and Finance.
Money And
Finance The Documents included varied Sources as China and World
Economy, Applied Economics, Economic Modelling so on.
China And 19
World Economy

Applied 18
Economics

Economic 18
Modelling

International 16
Economic
Journal Fig 6.2 Document per year by Source 1959-2022

Fig 6.3 Document per year by Source 2001-2022

The Source of 32 document under Foreign Exchange Reserve in span of 2001-2022 majorly contributed
under the source of Journal of International Money and Finance highlighted in purple plotted line in
above Fig 6.3.

The Documents included varied Sources as China and World Economy, Applied Economics, Economic
Modelling so on.

9|Macroeconomics SIBM Nagpur

 Fig 7.1 Document by Author 1959-2022

The document for the Forex Reserves was primarily contributed by Morison W.M in the span of
1959-2022. This comparison was among the 15 authors.

Fig 7.2 Document by Author 2001-2022

From the bibliometric survey of the various publications in the field of Foreign Exchange Reserves. We
have used the Scopus database to carry out a bibliometric survey of publications in Foreign Exchange
Reserve over 63-year period from 1959 to 2022. Major contribution by Morrison W. M majorly in
Social Sciences similarly in the Year 2001-2022.

Fig 8.1 Document by Affiliation 1959-2022

10 | M a c r o e c o n o m i c s SIBM Nagpur
From the Fig 8.1 it is seen that the International Monetary Fund was the major contribution in the
Document publication of Foreign Reserves.

Fig 8.2 Document by Affiliation 2001-2022

From the Fig 8.2 it is seen that the International Monetary Fund was the major contribution in the
Document publication of Foreign Exchange Reserves. The second affiliation in the publication of
Papers in Foreign Exchange Rates was Bank for International Settlements.

Fig 9.1 Document by Country or Territory 1959-2022

From the Fig 9.1 it is seen that United States- 334 paid a major contribution in the Document
publication of Foreign Exchange Reserves. The second contributing country in Document or Article
related publication under Foreign Exchange is China with Document count of 150. India pays a
contribution of 140 document standing third during span of 1959-2022.

The leading sources where the works under Foreign Exchange Reserve have been published are given
in Figure 9.1. The figure shows the number of research papers that have been published during the
period of interest.

The reason for including up to classic journals/sources is to bring out the fact that some of the work
has been outstanding and worth publishing in the best articles. It is very interesting to see that nearly
half of the research publications come from the USA.

Foreign Exchange Reserves in the United States is expected to be 41050.00 USD Million by the end of
this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. In the
long-term, the United States Foreign Exchange Reserves is projected to trend around 42602.00 USD
Million in 2023, according to econometric models.

11 | M a c r o e c o n o m i c s SIBM Nagpur
 Fig 9.2 Federal Reserve in United States since 1960’s

From the Fig 9.3 it is seen that United States- 317 paid a major contribution in the Document
publication of Foreign Exchange Reserves. The second contributing country in Document or Article
related publication under Foreign Exchange is China with Document count of 151. India pays a
contribution of 116 document standing third during span of 2001-2022.

The leading sources where the works under Foreign Exchange Reserve have been published are given
in Figure 9.3. The figure shows the number of research papers that have been published during the
period of interest.

Fig 9.3 Document by Country or Territory 2001-2022

12 | M a c r o e c o n o m i c s SIBM Nagpur
From the Fig 10.1 it is seen that the major Document by Type was in the form of Articles with 75.3%
for which United States- 317 paid a major contribution in the Document publication of Foreign
Exchange Reserves. The second contributing country in Document or Article related publication under
Foreign Exchange is China with Document count of 151. India pays a contribution of 116 document
standing third during span of 1959-2022.

The leading sources where the works under Foreign Exchange Reserve have been published are given
in Figure 10.1. The figure shows the major contribution to the Document by type that have been
published during the span of 1959-2022.

Fig 10.1 Document by Type 1959-2022

From the Fig 10.2.1 it is seen that the major Document by Type was in the form of Articles in a count
of 996 with 72% for which United States- 317 paid a major contribution in the Document publication
of Foreign Exchange Reserves. The second contributing country in Document or Article related
publication under Foreign Exchange is China with Document count of 151. India pays a contribution
of 116 document standing third during span of 2001-2022. The second major contribution to the
Foreign reserves is in the form of Book Chapter in a count of 183.

The leading sources where the works under Foreign Exchange Reserve have been published are given
in Figure 10.2.2. The figure 10.2.1 and figure 10.2.2 shows the major contribution to the Document by
type that have been published during the span of 2001-2022.

Fig 10.2.1 Table of Document by Type 2001-2022

13 | M a c r o e c o n o m i c s SIBM Nagpur
 Fig 10.2.2 Pie Representation of Document by Type 2001-2022

The leading sources where these works have been published are given in Figure 11.1. The figure shows
the number of research papers that have been published during the span of 1959-2022. The reason
for including primary journals/sources is to bring out the fact that major contribution has been done
which is outstanding and worth publishing in the best articles.

It is very interesting to see that nearly half of the research publications come from the USA. Out of the
1633 publications, USA has contributed to 377 which is 72%.

Consequently, it is not surprising that majority of the research funding sponsorship comes from the
USA as it is major Contributor to the research of Foreign Exchange Reserves. One surprising aspect
that comes out, however, is that 40% of the research publications is made in Subject area of Economics
and Econometrics, which may demonstrate the focus that worldwide seems to be giving to this
research area in Economics

Fig 11.1 Document by Subject area 1959-2022

14 | M a c r o e c o n o m i c s SIBM Nagpur
 Fig 11.2 Document by Subject area 2001-2022

The leading sources where these works have been published are given in Figure 11.2. The figure shows
the number of research papers that have been published during the span of 2001-2022. The reason
for including primary journals/sources is to bring out the fact that major contribution has been done
which is outstanding and worth publishing in the best articles.

It is very interesting to see that nearly half of the research publications come from the USA. Out of the
1633 publications, USA has contributed to 350 which is 70.2%.

Consequently, it is not surprising that majority of the research funding sponsorship comes from the
USA as it is major Contributor to the research of Foreign Exchange Reserves. One surprising aspect
that comes out, however, is that 40% of the research publications is made in Subject area of Economics
and Econometrics, which may demonstrate the focus that worldwide seems to be giving to this
research area in Economics

Fig 12.1 Document by Funding Sponsor 1959-2022

15 | M a c r o e c o n o m i c s SIBM Nagpur
Consequently, it is not surprising that majority of the research funding sponsorship comes from the
China as is seen in Figure 12.1. One surprising aspect that comes out, however, is that 20% of the
research publications by China are sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
Specifically, out of 34 papers, 17 of them are sponsored, which may demonstrate the focus that China
seems to be giving to this research area

Fig 12.2 Document by Funding Sponsor 2001-2022

Consequently, it is not surprising that majority of the research funding sponsorship comes from the
China as is seen in Figure 12.2 during the current span of 2001-2022. One surprising aspect that comes
out, however, is that majority of the research publications by China are sponsored by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China.

Conclusion and Future Scope of Work

In conclusion, we have done an in-depth study of the Scopus and Google Scholar in the research of
Foreign Exchange Reserves. Analysis of the data has led to some interesting insights. The survey covers
1633 publications in Scopus and lakhs of publications in Web of Science. From the Scopus database it
is found that there has been a consistent growth in the number of publications is happening in the
period of 2001-2022. Research areas, namely, Economics and Finance, Business Management,
Computer Science, and Mathematics, have contributed 70% of the research publications. The USA
leads the top 10 countries with nearly half (49.2%) of the research publications.

The Web of Science database, though bringing publications in the period, shows similar trends across
the metrics. We have carried out a comparative study of some of the metrics in Scopus and Web of
Science databases. Overall the study identifies the top 10 institutions, authors, and research journals
where this research has been published. As a future course of action, we intend delving deep into the
publications and carry out categorization and an in-depth analysis of the Foreign Exchange Reserves
which are prevalent in today scenario.

16 | M a c r o e c o n o m i c s SIBM Nagpur
References: -
[1]. Belch, G.E.(1978), Belief system and the differential role of the self concept in advances in
consume research, Keith H.Hunt, Ann Arbor, Michigan Association for Consumer Research, Vol. 5

[2]. Bettman, J. R., Johnson, E. J., & Payne, J. W. (1991), Consumer decision making, In T. S. Robertson
& H. H. Kassarjian (Eds.), Handbook of consumer behavior, pp. 50-84

[3]. Chen, L., Gillenson, M. and Sherrell, D. (2002), Enticing online consumers: an extended technology
acceptance perspective,Information & Management, Vol. 39, pp.705

[4]. E. Laird Landon (1974), Self concept, ideal self concept, and consumer purchase
intentions,Journal of consumer research, Vol. 1.

[5]. Francisco J. Martı´nez-Lo´pez, Paula Luna, Francisco Jose´ Martı´nez(2005), Online shopping, the
standard learning hierarchy, and consumers‟ internet expertise, Internet Research, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp.
312- 334.

[6] Gefen, D., Karahanna, E. and Straub, D.W.(2003), Trust and TAM in online shopping: an integrated
model,MIS Quarterly, Vol. 27, pp. 51-90.

[7]. George, J.F. (2002), Influences on the intent to make Internet purchases, Internet Research, Vol.
12 No. 2, pp. 165-80.

[8]. Harvin R., 2000, In internet branding, the off-lines have it, Brand week, 41, No 4, 1-30

[9]. Hoffman, D.L. and Novak, T.P.(1996), Marketing in hypermedia computer mediated
environments: conceptual foundations, Journal of Marketing, 60, 50-68.

[10]. Hoffman, D.L. and Novak, T.P.(1996), Marketing in hypermedia computer mediated
environments: conceptual foundations, Journal of Marketing, 60, 50-68.

[11]. Judy Chuan-Chuan Lin(2007), Online stickness: its antecedents and effect on purchasing
intention, Behavior & Information Technology, Vol. 26, No. 6, 507-516.

[12]. Hoffman, D.L., Novak, T.P. and Peralta, M. (1999), “Building consumer trust
online”,Communications of the ACM, Vol. 42 No. 4, pp. 80-5.

[13]. Matin khan(2006), Consumer behavior and advertising management, New age international.

17 | M a c r o e c o n o m i c s SIBM Nagpur