TY  - JOUR
T1  - Bibliometric Analysis of Studies on The Concept of "Metaverse"
AU  - Sontay, Gökhan
AU  - Karamustafaoğlu, Orhan
PY  - 2025
DA  - September
Y2  - 2025
DO  - 10.17275/per.25.74.12.5
JF  - Participatory Educational Research
JO  - PER
PB  - Özgen KORKMAZ
WT  - DergiPark
SN  - 2148-6123
SP  - 292
EP  - 311
VL  - 12
IS  - 5
LA  - en
AB  - Due to the importance of using metaverse technology in various fields, it is essential to examine published works on this subject. This study aims to reveal the current status and trends of the field by reviewing works that include the concept of "metaverse" through the Web of Science (WoS) database with bibliometric analysis techniques. Data were gathered from the WoS database using the bibliometric analysis method within the framework of a quantitative research design. The VOSviewer program was used to process the data. There were 5334 results for the keyword search "metaverse" in Web of Science. The obtained data were examined through author, citation, keyword, country, and institution analyses. When the publication years of works related to the concept of "metaverse" were examined, the examination determined that the highest concentration was in 2023 and 2024, and the names that created the most works were Dusit Niyato (63), Zehui Xiong (36), and Jiawen Kang (35). In terms of the distribution of the most frequently cited works on the metaverse by country, it was determined that the People's Republic of China was the leader (13006 citations), followed by the United States (10516 citations) and South Korea (6140 citations). The most frequently cited institution was the Chinese Academy of Sciences (1756 citations). It was concluded that the most frequently cited countries and institutions on the metaverse were Asian. The results can be compared by analyses similar to those of other programs performing bibliometric analysis.
KW  - Metaverse
KW  - bibliometric analyse
KW  - VOSviewer
CR  - Abdulzaher, M., Snoussi, T., Moussa, S., & Korbi, W. (2023). The metaverse for communicating and marketing purposes: opportunities and challenges. Journal of Namibian Studies: History Politics Culture, 33, 3124-3137. https://doi.org/10.59670/jns.v33i.684
CR  - Ağaoğlu, F. O., Ekinci, L. O., & Tosun, N. (2022). An evaluation on metaverse and health services. Journal of Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, 4(1), 95-102. https://doi.org/ebyuiibfdergi.1133902
CR  - Al-Habaibeh, A., Watkins, M., Waried, K., & Javareshk, M. B. (2021). Challenges and opportunities of remotely working from home during Covid-19 pandemic. Global Transitions, 3, 99-108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.glt.2021.11.001
CR  - Anderson, J., & Rainie, L. (2022). The metaverse in 2040. Pew Research Center.
CR  - Babur, Y. (2022). The role of the tourism industry in the metaverse network. Journal of Tourism Economics and Business Studies, 4(1), 91-101.
CR  - Bacaksız, P. (2023). Criminal law against metaverse and virtual reality environments. Inonu University Law Review, 14(1), 289-303. https://doi.org/10.21492/inuhfd.1187521
CR  - Bağış, M. (2021). Bibliyometrik araştırmalarda kullanılan başlıca analiz teknikleri [The main analysis techniques used in bibliometric research]. In Öztürk, O. & Gürler, G. (Ed.), Bir literatür incelemesi aracı olarak bibliyometrik analiz [In. Bibliometric analysis as a literature review tool] (pp. 97-108). Nobel Akademi Yayıncılık.
CR  - Benedikt, M. L. (2008). Cityspace, cyberspace, and the spatiology of information. Journal for Virtual Worlds Research, 1(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.4101/jvwr.v1i1.290
CR  - Bibri, S. E. (2022). The social shaping of the metaverse as an alternative to the imaginaries of data-driven smart Cities: A study in science, technology, and society. Smart Cities, 5(3), 832-874. https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities5030043
CR  - Bizel, G. (2023). A Bibliometric analysis: Metaverse in education concept. Journal of Metaverse, 3(2), 133-143. https://doi.org/10.57019/jmv.1310768
CR  - Chen, W., Liu, W., Geng, Y., Brown, M. T., Gao, C., & Wu, R. (2017). Recent progress on emergy research: A bibliometric analysis. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 73, 1051-1060. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.02.041
CR  - Cobo, M. J., Lopez-Herrera, A. G., Herrera-Viedma, E., & Herrera, F. (2011). Science mapping software tools: Review, analysis and cooperative study among tools. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 62(7), 1382-1402. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.21525
CR  - Çelik, R. (2022). What is the Metaverse? Conceptual evaluation and overview. Balkan and Near Eastern Journal of Social Sciences, 8(1), 67-74.
CR  - De Masi, V., Di, Q., Li, S., & Song, Y. (2025). China’s policies and investments in metaverse and AI development: implications for academic research. Online Media and Global Communication, 4(1), 109-139. https://doi.org/10.1515/omgc-2024-0041
CR  - Díaz, J., Saldaña, C., & Avila, C. (2020). Virtual world as a resource for hybrid education. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 15(15), 94-109. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v15i15.13025
CR  - Donthu, N.; Kumar, S., Mukherjee, D., Pandey, N., Lim, W.M. (2021). How to Conduct a Bibliometric Analysis: An Overview and Guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 133, 285-296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.04.070
CR  - Dudley, J., Yin, L., Garaj, V., & Kristensson, P. O. (2023). Inclusive Immersion: a review of efforts to improve accessibility in virtual reality, augmented reality and the metaverse. Virtual Reality, 27(4), 2989-3020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-023-00850-8
CR  - Eck, N. J., & Waltman, L. (2022). VOSviewer Manual. Universiteit Leiden.
CR  - Gaurav, A. (2023). Metaverse and globalization: Cultural exchange and digital diplomacy. Data Science Insights Magazine, 5, 23-27.
CR  - Efe, A. (2025). The Metaverse as a Convergence of Virtual and Real Worlds: A Risk Assessment in the Context of Ethics. Online Journal of Technology Addiction and Cyberbullying, 12(1), 28-59.
CR  - Gauttier, S., Simouri, W., & Milliat, A. (2024). When to enter the metaverse: business leaders offer perspectives. Journal of Business Strategy, 45(1), 2-9. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBS-08-2022-0149
CR  - Gökçe Narin, N. (2021). A Content Analysis of the Metaverse Articles. Journal of Metaverse, 1(1), 17-24.
CR  - Ho, W., & Lee, D. (2023). Enhancing Engineering Education in the Roblox Metaverse: Utilizing chatGPT for Game Development for Electrical Machine Course. International Journal on Advanced Science, Engineering & Information Technology, 13(3), 1052-1058. https://doi.org/10.18517/ijaseit.13.3.18458
CR  - Hwang, G.-J., & Chien, S.-Y. (2022). Definition, roles, and potential research issues of the metaverse in education: an artificial intelligence perspective. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 3, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2022.100082
CR  - Kan, S., & Kumaş, A. (2024). Metaverse-based science education. Millî Eğitim, 53(242), 659-694. https://doi.org/10.37669/milliegitim.1242079
CR  - Kanematsu, H., Fukumura, Y., Barry, D. M., Sohn, S. Y., & Taguchi, R. (2010). Multilingual discussion in metaverse among students from the USA, Korea and Japan. In Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems: 14th International Conference, KES 2010, Cardiff, UK, September 8-10, 2010, Proceedings, Part IV 14 (pp. 200-209). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
CR  - Karamustafaoğlu, O., Orbay M., & Kara, İ. (2023). The bibliometric journey of IJATE from local to global. International Journal of Assessment Tools in Education, 10(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.21449/ijate.1212539
CR  - Karyağdı, G. (2022). Interior approaches to the metaverse. Atlas Journal, 8(49), 2766-2782. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8384023
CR  - Kye, B., Han, N., Kim, M., Park, Y., & Jo, S. (2021). Educational applications of metaverse: Possibilities and limitations. Journal of Educational Evaluation for Health Professions, 18(32), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.3352/jeehp.2021.18.32
CR  - Lee, J. Y. (2021). A study on metaverse hype for sustainable growth. International Journal of Advanced Smart Convergence, 10(3), 72-80.
CR  - Lee, U. K., & Kim, H. (2022). UTAUT in Metaverse: An “Ifland” Case. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 17(2), 613-635. https://10.3390/jtaer17020032
CR  - Lee, L. H., Braud, T., Zhou, P., Wang, L., Xu, D., Lin, Z., & Hui, P. (2022). All one needs to know about metaverse: A complete survey on technological singularity, virtual ecosystem, and research agenda. Journal of Latex, 1(1), 1-38. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2110.05352
CR  - Liao, K., Huang, X., Dang, H., Ren, Y., Zuo, S., & Duan, C. (2021). Statistical Approaches for Forecasting Primary Air Pollutants: A Review. Atmosphere, 12(6), 686. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12060686
CR  - Longo, U. G., Lalli, A., Gobbato, B., & Nazarian, A. (2024). Metaverse, virtual reality and augmented reality in total shoulder arthroplasty: a systematic review. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 25(1), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-024-07436-8
CR  - Mosco, V. (2023). Into the metaverse: technical challenges, social problems, utopian visions, and policy principles. Javnost-The Public, 30(2), 161-173. https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2023.2200688
CR  - Na, J. C., Kim, E. J., & Kim, J. Y. (2024). Text mining and visualisation of post-covid-19 metaverse online news related to sports in South Korea. Journal of Sport Psychology, 33(1), 44-55.
CR  - Ng, D. T. K. (2022). What is the metaverse? Definitions, technologies and the community of inquiry. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 38(4), 190-205. https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.7945
CR  - Odama, K. (2022). The Metaverse. The Texas Orator Blog Entries.
CR  - Özsevgeç, T. (2019). Nicel veri toplama teknikleri [Quantitative data collection techniques]. Haluk Özmen & Orhan Karamustafaoğlu (Ed.). İçinde Eğitimde Araştırma Yöntemleri [In. Research Methods in Education] (pp. 83-110). Pegem Akademi.
CR  - Patalay, A. (2022). US and Chinese perspectives on consumer trust & data privacy in the age of ‘metaverse’and its next-gen technology enablers. Doctoral dissertation, PhD dissertation, The faculty of San Francisco State University.
CR  - Rahman, K. R., Shitol, S. K., Islam, M. S., Iftekhar, K. T., & Saha, P. (2023). Use of metaverse technology in education domain. Journal of Metaverse, 3(1), 79-86. https://doi.org/10.57019/jmv.1223704
CR  - Rahmawati, M. I., & Subardjo, A. A. (2022). Bibliometric analysis of accounting in the blockchain era. Journal of Accounting and Investment, 23(1), 66-77. https://doi.org/10.18196/jai.v23i1.13302
CR  - Rudolphi-Solero, T., Lorenzo-Álvarez, R., Domínguez-Pinos, D., Ruiz-Gómez, M. J., & Sendra-Portero, F. (2024). An Interuniversity Competition for Medical Students to Learn Radiology in the Second Life Metaverse. Journal of the American College of Radiology, 21(5), 812-821. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2023.09.012
CR  - Schroeder, R., Huxor, A., & Smith, A. (2001). Activeworlds: geography and social interaction in virtual reality. Futures, 33(7), 569-587. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-3287(01)00002-7
CR  - Stephenson, N. (1992). Snow crash: A novel. Spectra.
CR  - Sutikno, T., & Aisyahrani, A. I. B. (2023). Non-fungible tokens, decentralized autonomous organizations, Web 3.0, and the metaverse in education: From university to metaversity. Journal of Education and Learning, 17(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.11591/edulearn.v17i1.20657
CR  - Thipphaphone, E. (2022). The deployment of blockchain technology to promote the national economy in South Korea. Вестник науки, 5(50), 73-84.
CR  - Truong, V. T., Le, L. B., & Niyato, D. (2023). Blockchain meets metaverse and digital asset management: A comprehensive survey. IEEE Access, 11, 26258-26288. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3257029
CR  - Turan, T., & Kavut, İ. E. (2022). An investigation of the surrealist art movement's contribution to fictional spaces and the concept of the metaverse in the context of the norm. Journal of Architectural Sciences And Applications, 7(1), 346-363. https://doi.org/10.30785/mbud.1079846
CR  - Wang, H., Ning, H., Lin, Y., Wang, W., Dhelim, S., Farha, Fadi, Ding, J., & Daneshmand, M. (2023). A survey on the metaverse: The state-of-the-art, technologies, applications, and challenges. IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 10(16), 14671-14688. https://doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2023.3278329
CR  - Wolitzky, K., Fivush, R., Zimand, E., Hodges, L., & Rothbaum, B. O. (2005). Effectiveness of virtual reality distraction during a painful medical procedure in pediatric oncology patients. Psychology and health, 20(6), 817-824. https://doi.org/10.1080/14768320500143339
CR  - Yang, D., Zhou, J., Song, Y., Sun, M., & Bai, C. (2022). Metaverse in medicine. Clinical eHealth, 5, 39-43.
CR  - Yılmaz, H., & Ceranoğlu, M. (2022). The digital future of fashion: 3d clothes, metaverse and nft. E Art Journal of Fine Arts Faculty, 15(29), 642-672. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceh.2022.02.001
CR  - Zhu, B., Fan, H., Xie, B., Ran, S., Zhou, C., & He, J. (2020). Mapping the Scientific Research on Healthcare Workers’ Occupational Health: A Bibliometric and Social Network Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(8), 2625. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17082625
UR  - https://doi.org/10.17275/per.25.74.12.5
L1  - https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/4966553
ER  -