Analyzing trends in project management research

<p>Project management is becoming increasingly popular and widely used. The knowledge in this area is constantly growing, new approaches, methods and tools are arising. Project management system and its methods are used not only in the construction and information technology, but also in such areas as education, banking, logistics, advertising and consulting. This approach is applicable in all business spheres. Due to the project management system the company allocates and uses the resources efficiently, increases competitiveness and gets flexibility. Companies are extensively implementing the project approach in their activities as it allows them to achieve their goals and gain some benefits.</p><p>Nowadays scholars and practitioners can see the formation and development of science, as well as they can make contribution to these processes. Since the project management discipline is still emerging, it is obvious that some of its areas are well-developed and some of them have lack of the attention and contain weaknesses, contradictions and problems. At this moment, countless scientific articles with interesting and important results are being published in journals. However, there is no structured information about the state of science today and the directions in its development.</p><p>The primary aim of the study is to examine the trends in its development using the analysis of publications from &lsquo;International Journal of Project Management&rsquo; over the last year.</p><p>The results received from the investigation show the strong interest in project management research to the communications, risk management, knowledge management, construction industry, IT and human resource management.</p><p>The study contains the comparative analysis of the results from previous research and obtained ones. The findings show the growth trend of the research in all spheres identified in the study from the 1950s up to 2013. During this period of time the main attention in publications was paid to project evaluation, risk management, communications and issues related to human resources. Moreover, it is expected that in the future more attention in the project management research will be paid to contracts and management of changes.</p><p>This study will be useful for people who are interested in the project management, as it contains information about the project management state and its development directions. The findings received from the research tend to enrich and improve the project management body of knowledge and they can be used by followers for the next investigations.</p>