The Academic Journey of Esports: A Bibliometric Mapping of the Scientific Literature

The evolving technological infrastructure and changing consumer behaviors have led to the rapid global rise in popularity of esports, a phenomenon that has also been reflected in academic literature. Particularly over the last decade, the number of scientific studies published in the field of esports has increased markedly; various themes and concepts, as seen in traditional sports, have begun to be examined within this domain. Within this scope, this study employs bibliometric analysis to evaluate a total of 1304 articles published between 2001 and 2025 in the Web of Science and Scopus databases, with the aim of examining the academic development of esports literature from a holistic perspective. Using the Rstudio (bibliometrix) software, the analyses reveal annual publication trends, the most influential journals and authors, thematic focus areas, country and institutional collaborations, and the most frequently cited works. The findings indicate that esports research has grown rapidly, especially in the post-2015 period, and has evolved into a dynamic structure at the intersection of multiple disciplines such as technology, psychology, communication, business, and sports sciences. By systematically mapping the intellectual structure of the esports field, the study identifies fundamental thematic focuses and potential research gaps for future investigations, offering both methodological and conceptual contributions to the literature.