Virtual Environments’ Knowledge Base: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

The goal of this research is to explore the scientific literature on virtual environments by conducting a bibliometric analysis. This provides the insight into the main topics, most contributing sources, most-cited articles, prolific authors, and countries that are involved in the research. Additionally, this analysis acts as a tool for understanding the intellectual foundation of the structure, worldwide research concentration on this domain, and social structure of the literature on the subject, as well as the knowledge base associated with the use and integration of virtual environments. The research was conducted by analyzing articles indexed in the Scopus database, which is believed to be the top-most database in scope regarding social sciences research. Using the PRISMA sampling technique and VOSviewer software, the data was analyzed to provide an overview of the virtual environment domain, and we reported tables, graphs, and maps to highlight the main performance indicators for the production of articles and their citation. The results show that terms such as “innovation management,” “social media analysis,” “business development,” “digital technology,” “customer engagement,” “firm performance,” “technology management,” “virtual environment,” “digital capability,” and “market performance” have been used regularly. In addition, the density map reveals some of the newer topics of research, such as “industry 4.0,” “sustainable development,” “digital business strategies,” “virtual environment,” “artificial intelligence,” and “big data technology.” This study’s results offer a deeper understanding of how the past, present, and future are connected and shed light on any topics that remain unexplored.