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The State of Nonprofit Financial Sustainability Research Across Disciplines: A Systematic Literature Review

Reshma Roy

Journal of Commerce and Accounting Research2026https://doi.org/10.21863/jcar/2026.15.1.010article
ABDC C
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

The current research presents a comprehensive thorough basis on economic sustainability in the nonprofit sector through a systematic literature review. The study addresses five key research questions: (1) the scope of nonprofit finance research, (2) the topics covered, (3) the impact of these studies, (4) the financial sustainability metrics used, and (5) the main analytic techniques employed. The review analysed 282 articles published between 1980 and 2023 across 28 journals from various disciplines, including accounting, public administration, nonprofit management, finance, marketing, as well as economics. Notably, 205 articles appeared in leading nonprofit management journals. These studies have been highly influential, with 11,348 citations (an average of 40.24 citations per article). The most common financial sustainability metrics are net profit ratio, liquidity ratio, and return on assets, with regression analysis being the predominant analytic method. This bibliography provides a valuable resource for evaluating nonprofit financial sustainability research across disciplines.

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Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.21863/jcar/2026.15.1.010

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{reshma2026,
  title        = {{The State of Nonprofit Financial Sustainability Research Across Disciplines: A Systematic Literature Review}},
  author       = {Reshma Roy},
  journal      = {Journal of Commerce and Accounting Research},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.21863/jcar/2026.15.1.010},
}

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.