A bibliometric analysis of extended reality research trends in communication studies written in English Mapping the increasing adoption of extended reality technologies

Abstract

With the development of communication technologies, extended reality technologies and applications are increasingly favoured because of their potential to contribute to interactive digital experiences. In addition to providing information about objects, the integration of extended reality offers an enriched experience through a virtual layer that includes various interactions. This paper offers a quantitative and systematic review of studies published in the Web of Science Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), and Arts & Humanities Citation Index (AHCI) on extended reality technology in communication studies in English between 1992 and 2023. Within the scope of this research, studies on the concepts of mixed reality, augmented reality, virtual reality, and extended reality in journals indexed in the Web of Science (WOS) database were searched. A total of 209 publications were included in the scope of the bibliometric analysis with filters for publication type, language, open access category, and subject. Bibliometric tools were employed to identify trends in extended reality and communication studies, including primary research topics and clusters, interdisciplinary distribution, productivity, and collaboration at the country level, keyword and citation networks, and co-occurrence networks. These findings contribute to the understanding of the evolution of extended reality research in communication studies and lay a foundation for further research.