Networks in disaster emergency management: a systematic review

The research of emergency management networks (EMNs) attracted much attention in recent years. However, it is lack of a systematic study to review these results. This paper aims to review publications related to EMNs based on a three-stage research framework. Then, the main research status, research methods and research topics were determined through scientometric analysis and qualitative discussion. It turns out that the research interest in EMNs is increasing. The USA, Australia, South Korea and Hong Kong have been the countries/regions conducted the most EMNs research. The scholars include but not limited to Kapucu, Comfort, Jung, Song, and Drabek were identified as the active scholars in this field. Survey/interview was found as the most popular data collection method; social network analysis was the most commonly used data analysis method. Emergency management (EM) network characteristics, network structure, and network performance and its influencing factors were the main research topics. The results of this review would provide a useful reference for both disaster EM researchers and practitioners.