Purpose Although knowledge based on business intelligence (BI) is crucial, few studies have explored the core of BI knowledge; this study explores this topic. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected 1,306 articles and 54,020 references from the Web of Science (WoS) database and performed co-citation analysis to explore the core knowledge of BI; 52 highly cited articles were identified. The authors also performed factor and cluster analyses to organize this core knowledge and compared the results of these analyses. Findings The factor analysis based on the co-citation matrix revealed seven key factors of the core knowledge of BI: big data analytics, BI benefits and success, organizational capabilities and performance, information technology (IT) acceptance and measurement, information and business analytics, social media text analytics, and the development of BI. The cluster analysis revealed six categories: IT acceptance and measurement, BI success and measurement, organizational capabilities and performance, big data-enabled business value, social media text analytics, and BI system (BIS) and analytics. These results suggest that numerous research topics related to big data are emerging. Research limitations/implications The core knowledge of BI revealed in this study can help researchers understand BI, save time, and explore new problems. The study has three limitations that researchers should consider: the time lag of co-citation analysis, the difference between two analytical methods, and the changing nature of research over time. Researchers should consider these limitations in future studies. Originality/value This study systematically explores the extent to which scholars of business have researched and understand BI. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first studies to outline the core knowledge of BI and identify emerging opportunities for research in the field.