Research on energy communities moves from being a residual until 2014 to one of the key issues for the energy policies in 2025. To date, no systematic literature review on energy communities has comprehensively examined both the periods before and after the 2018–2019 EU Directives, while also avoiding a narrow focus on specific objectives and instead considering the entire research field. The present article is built upon a twenty-year dataset spanning the period from 2002 to 2022 collected from the Scopus database. We explore key topics and schools of thought, trend themes, international collaborations, and applied methodologies, with particular focus on the evolution of the field and the economic impacts. The study's dataset contains 813 papers from 273 journals, conference proceedings, and books. A descriptive analysis of the most influential journals and authors in the field is performed at the beginning followed by more advanced bibliometric methods. “Bibliometrix” package for R statistical software is used as a tool. Building on results of the bibliometric investigation, a systematic literature review is conducted manually focusing on titles, keywords, and abstracts. The field initially focused on UK case studies using sociological theories for replication, while Continental Europe emphasized top-down factors like policies and institutions fostering EC growth. Organizational and policy aspects dominated research, shifting toward innovative technology integration into communities with the advent of EU Directives. Outside Europe, the USA, Australia, Canada, Brazil, India, and China lead contributions. Future trends likely include further scrutinization of ‘energy commons’ at a time of increase of community models, policy comparisons and technology integration. Legal aspects and interactions with electricity markets remain underexplored.
