A surge in publications about AI and managers

‼️Over the past few years, the academic conversation around AI and managers has exploded. A quick look at Scopus reveals more than 50,000 papers addressing this intersection.

📈 The pace is accelerating fast:

👉 2020: 2,859 papers

👉 2024: 8,556 papers

👉 2025 (as of August): already 7,508 papers

This research is spread widely across disciplines:

📌 Computer Science: 20,511 papers

📌 Business, Management & Accounting: 16,076

📌 Engineering: 12,737

📌 Social Sciences: 11,570

Top contributors? No surprise – the US, China, and UK lead the way.

But what happens if we zoom in on a more specific angle: competencies?

Adding “competencies” or “competency” to the search still gives 5,172 papers. Here too, the growth is striking:

👉 2020: 260 papers

👉 2024: 1,290 papers

👉 2025 (August): already 1,233 papers

In this space, the disciplinary balance shifts:

📌 Business, Management & Accounting: 2,610 papers

📌 Social Sciences: 1,695

📌 Computer Science: 1,305

🔍 The picture is clear: while the technical side of AI remains dominant, the conversation about AI and competencies is gaining real traction – particularly in business and social science domains.

For us, this raises an important question: How will managers develop (and redefine) their competencies in an age where AI is no longer a support tool, but a collaborator?

Data as of August 25, 2025 (Scopus).

Graphics: ChatGPT

This post is part of the project “People and Algorithms in Organisations: Competences to Work in the Digital Environment” (DIGIT_People and algorithms), funded by the NAWA – Narodowa Agencja Wymiany Akademickiej (Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange).

#AI #managers #academicpublications #scopus #DIGIT_NAWA #NAWA #PUEB #UEP