[Paper Review] Metaverse Shape of Your Life for Future: A bibliometric snapshot

Muhammet Damar|arXiv (Cornell University)|Dec 8, 2021

Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts292 citations

TL;DR

This paper conducts a bibliometric evaluation of metaverse literature from 1990 to 2021 using Web of Science, detailing journals, institutions, researchers, countries, topics, and citations.

ABSTRACT

The metaverse was first introduced in 1992. Many people saw Metaverse as a new word but the concept of Metaverse is not a new term. However, Zuckerberg's press release drew all the attention to the Metaverse. This study presents a bibliometric evaluation of metaverse technology, which has been discussed in the literature since the nineties. A field study is carried out especially for the metaverse, which is a new and trendy subject. In this way, descriptive information is presented on journals, institutions, prominent researchers, and countries in the field, as well as extra evaluation on the prominent topics in the field and researchers with heavy citations. In our study, which was carried out by extracting the data of all documents between the years 1990-2021 from the Web of Science database, it was seen that there were few studies in the literature in the historical process for the metaverse, whose popularity has reached its peak in recent months. In addition, it is seen that the subject is handled intensively with virtual reality and augmented reality technologies, and the education sector and digital marketing fields show interest in the field. Metaverse will probably have entered many areas of our lives in the next 15-20 years, shape our lives by taking advantage of the opportunities of developing technology.

Motivation & Objective

• Describe the historical development of metaverse research from 1990 to 2021.
• Identify contributing journals, institutions, researchers, and countries in the field.
• Spot prominent topics and frequently cited researchers.
• Assess how metaverse research relates to VR/AR and application areas like education and digital marketing.

Proposed method

• Extract data from the Web of Science covering 1990–2021.
• Carry out descriptive bibliometric analysis of publications, authors, institutions, and countries.
• Analyze topic prominence and highly cited researchers and works.
• Discuss the evolution and peak popularity of metaverse research.
• Highlight connections to VR/AR technologies and application domains such as education and digital marketing.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 What journals and fields publish metaverse-related work, and how do they relate to Digital Libraries and Computers and Society?
• RQ2 Which institutions, countries, and researchers dominate the metaverse literature, and who are the most highly cited?
• RQ3 What are the prominent topics and themes within metaverse research, and how has interest evolved over time?
• RQ4 How does metaverse literature connect to VR/AR technologies and to education and digital marketing applications?

Key findings

• There have been relatively few metaverse studies in the historical development period studied (1990–2021).
• The topic has intensified in recent years, with peak popularity occurring in recent months.
• Metaverse research is closely associated with VR and AR technologies.
• Education and digital marketing are notable application areas attracting interest within the metaverse literature.
• The study provides descriptive insights into journals, institutions, researchers, and country contributions in the field.