Though the technology is quite new there is a certain amount of research already consolidated.
In particular, as a reference for this thread of research you can use this survey : Where Is Current Research on Blockchain Technology?—A Systematic Review (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5047482/)
The authors there, review 41 papers of which 80 % published after 2012 confirming that researchers are working on blockchain applications only recently .
This post originates from my answer on Quora you can find here : https://www.quora.com/Is-there-any-academic-research-on-Blockchain/answer/Alket-Cecaj?srid=n9bS