The aim of the research is the bibliometric analysis of research on COVID-19 and tourism in order to detect research lines and gaps, the main authors, the countries with the highest number of publications, the most analysed study areas, the journals with the most number of publications and the articles with the highest number of citations. The Web of Science (WOS) database was used to extract the publications and the VOSviewer software was used to represent the data analysed. The keywords used resulted in 1792 publications that were subjected to a filtering process to avoid introducing articles that did not meet the inclusion criteria. Finally, the analysis was composed by 921 publications. The analysis locates a new line of research that visualizes the crisis as an opportunity to propel a new, more sustainable tourism. Tourist perception and the risk of transmission, together with the analysis of measures and policies are other of the most researched topics. China is the country with the most articles on COVID-19 and tourism according to the author’s main affiliation, as well as being the most analysed area of study. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first article to carry out a bibliometric analysis of COVID-19 and tourism publications.

Alternative metrics are increasingly used to measure the social impact of research. This article seeks to analyze the social impact of research in the field of tourism. For this purpose, we will determine the extent to which the articles in this field reach society by examining the scores they achieve on social media and studying the correlation between scientific impact and social impact. Altmetric information will be used for data extraction and analysis. The results show a low correlation between citations and the Altmetric Attention Score (AAS), as well as a presence that is not captured by most publications in the field of study. Interestingly, publications with higher AASs are concentrated in the same journals. The article concludes by determining that alternative metrics can be used to complement academic impact but cannot be a substitute for it. Further progress is needed in the development of a framework that unifies both impacts.

The article carries out a systematic literature review on the social impact of research in all fields of study. To this end, this study has compiled the publications on the subject using the Web of Science database, and the most relevant terms have been mapped using the VOSviewer tool. The aim of the article is to advance and provide knowledge on the key aspects to be taken into account for research to generate social benefits and to analyse the main methods and instruments used to assess the social impact of research. At the same time, this article serves as a point of reflection to raise awareness, on a recent topic, of the limitations that arise in evaluation and research gaps that can be addressed in future research. This line of research has been in existence for just over 10 years. International programmes, such as Horizon Europe, highlight the impact channels and, in the field of social sciences, specific methodologies such as communicative communication are being developed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to analyse the subject from a global point of view, without specifying the field of study, providing a conceptual map of the subject.

This article aims to advance the methodology for assessing the social impact of tourism research. An evaluation framework was designed to measure social impact in three stages—ex-ante, in-itinere and ex-post—and the ex-post evaluation was applied to a tourism research project, the POLITUR project, to test its validity. The collected information originated from interviews and documentary material. The analysis was structured according to six main areas—communication and promotion, policies and regulation, economic benefit, new technological resources, environment and social improvements—and four dimensions—temporal, applied, geographical and sustainability. The results are followed by a discussion of the domains and dimensions of the social impact assessment of tourism research. The need for further improvement in methods for measuring the social impact of tourism research and the importance of research that generates social impact are highlighted.

Purpose This paper aims to analyse Barcelona City Council's tourism policy documents to detect how, through the influence of research, different pathways are produced to achieve social impact. Design/methodology/approach Using the case study approach, a qualitative content analysis is applied to review 31 tourism policy documents of Barcelona City Council. Findings The results show that the influence of tourism research on Barcelona City Council's policy documents occurs through the following pathways that drive potential social impact: the development of shared research programmes, joint projects, the creation of information exchange platforms, support for academia, the creation of debates, the founding of institutes, the referencing of scientific articles and studies commissioned directly by the City Council from higher education bodies for implementation in the city. Originality/value The originality of this paper is to highlight the social relevance of research and to contribute to raising awareness among researchers. The social impact of research is an under-explored topic in the field of tourism. Moreover, there is little research that conducts this analysis through policy documents.