Scholarly Output on Computer Networks and Communication: A Ten-Year Bibliometric Analysis in Scopus (2013-2022)

Abstract

Introduction: Bibliometrics measure the production and dissemination of scholarly scientific communication. It has been applied to analyze trends and research output in computer networking and communication.Objective: To examine the global academic publications on computer networks and communications within the Scopus database during the timeframe 2013-2022.Method: A descriptive observational bibliometric study was undertaken. Through the utilization of SciVal (Scopus), 1,260,446 documents were identified. The following variables were studied: number of documents (Ndoc), year of publication, annual variation rate (AVR) of the scholarly output, number of citations (Ncit), field-weighted citation impact (FWCI), type of document, author, institution, country, source, type of collaboration, subject area, and keyphrases. All data were sourced from SciVal.Results: A steady increase in global scientific production was observed, with a slight decline in 2020. The five-year period 2016-2020 concentrated the highest Ncit, but the highest Ncit per document, FWCI and top 1% most cited documents corresponded to 2013. The scholarly output studied mainly consisted of conference papers (72.9%). Zhu Han, the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the United States and ACM International Conference Proceeding Series were, respectively, the most active author, institution, country, and source. More than 90% of the documents had some form of collaboration. Computer Science and Engineering were the most recurrent subject areas. Conclusions: The study highlights a consistent global increase in scientific production, with distinct variations in citation metrics across years. The scholarly output was diverse in terms of document type. Collaboration, particularly international, played a pivotal role.