Mapping Research Trends in Cloud Computing Applications for Libraries: A Bibliometric Approach

1 Introduction

A variety of metrics has been developed as a result of bibliometric analysis which integrates various frameworks, instruments, and techniques to examine and analyze citations of academic publications. This has allowed researchers to assess the influence of scientific journals, studies, and researchers and also gain insights into the intellectual structure of a wide range of academic disciplines (Akhavan et al. 2016). Bibliometrics is a quantitative discipline that is closely linked to the sociology of science, science policy, and the evaluation of research programs. Hicks and Melkers (2013) examine the widespread application of bibliometrics in program evaluation. They place particular emphasis on the interpretation of citation counts. Bibliometric methods have become well-established techniques for analysis and are being utilized to assess the advancement of research fields (Ellegaard and Wallin 2015). These days, databases like Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus make it considerably more straightforward to find papers and conduct analyses (Zupic and Čater 2015). The field’s developments make it easier to analyze the influence and development of scientific literature (Ellegaard and Wallin 2015). Researchers worldwide have recently shown a great deal of interest in the application of bibliometric approaches in systematic literature reviews. This has been impacted by a number of factors including the use of software to assist researchers in conducting systematic reviews, the cross-disciplinary methodology that can be utilized by users from a variety of scientific fields, and the system’s capacity to manage massive amounts of data (Donthu et al. 2021). These studies primarily used a qualitative technique to analyze the design field. To our knowledge, no researcher has used a quantitative approach to review design research (Chai and Xiao 2012). Bibliometrics citations imply a meaningful association between a study and the reference (Adam et al. 2002; Lawrence 2003; Traynor and Rafferty 2001). Bibliometric strategies can be categorized as evaluative or relational. Scientific research evaluation strategies aim to compare the relative impact of research collaboration between individuals or groups (Güzeller and Çeliker 2018).

Although the potential of Cloud Computing to improve library services is becoming more widely acknowledged, there aren’t many thorough bibliometric studies that chart the research trends in this field. A comprehensive picture of the development of the area is sometimes lacking in the literature that currently exists which frequently concentrates on individual case studies or particular applications (Alhassan et al 2020; Kaur and Kaur 2021). The impact of Cloud Computing on library operations and user engagement is also not well examined, which restricts library professionals’ ability to plan and execute strategic initiatives (Mokhtar et al 2021). This study methodically examines the scientific landscape in an effort to close these gaps.

According to Mabawonku et al. (2024), library staff are cognizant of Cloud Computing technology, which could facilitate its efficient application in libraries. Cloud Computing technology is implemented to enable collaboration among staff and users, enhance accessibility, and provide storage for digital content, which illustrates its potential value in libraries.

The purpose of Cloud Computing applications in academic libraries is to investigate how they affect user experiences, intellectual cooperation, and library operations. Examining the different applications of Cloud Computing in academic libraries, evaluating its advantages and disadvantages, and seeing areas for further growth are the goals of the study. Cloud-based solutions are used for scalable storage, digital preservation, collaborative research platforms, online catalogs, and digital asset management (Karthika et al. 2024). Several Cloud Computing practices were identified in this study, such as cloud-based library automation systems, email services, social media apps, cloud storage (Dropbox), consortium services, digital libraries, and file sharing. The cost-effectiveness, storage capacity, user-friendliness, flexibility and scalability, time-saving nature, lack of in-house expertise, and pervasiveness of the technology are the main reasons why libraries have embraced Cloud Computing (Asim et al. 2024).

2 Concept of Bibliometrics

Over the past 10 years, bibliometrics has become a crucial topic of study. It is essential for analyzing scientific research through quantitative analysis of research papers, studying the results of scientific publications, and evaluating research in the fields of academics and library and information science (LIS) (Rehn and Kronman 2008). Bibliometrics, as defined by the Karolinska Institute, refers to the utilization of statistical and mathematical techniques in analyzing books and other forms of communication as well as a collection of quantitative tools used to analyze scholarly publications. Bibliometric research can encompass any measurable component of a publication such as the word count of a paper or the time it takes for a submission to be published. Although the quantitative facts related to a particular paper may seem dull, they gain significance when comparing several publications or conducting statistical analyses on extensive collections.

3 Objective of the Study

To analyze the growth and publication trends in research on Cloud Computing applications in libraries over the past decade, patterns in the overall volume of literature that features in the comprehensive study are identified. The objectives of this study are as follows:

1. Identify the annual production and citation pattern of Cloud Computing research in the library.

2. Identify author collaboration with country and affiliation through three-factor plots.

3. Identify the most relevant sources and their production over time.

4. Identify the relevant author and their co-citation network, among others.

5. Indicate the most prolific country in production, citation, and collaboration, among other countries.

6. Define the reference spectroscopy of the complete documents over the course of a decade.

7. Identify the most frequent keywords through analysis and a word cloud.

4 Methodology

Bibliometric analysis is a technique for evaluating and comprehending scientific publications that makes use of quantitative measurements. The method is based on the idea that patterns and trends in the literature can provide essential details about the state of a specific field, including its development, research trends, and essential figures (Donthu et al. 2021).

In this study, we use the quantitative method of bibliometric analysis to analyze and categorize the research conducted on Cloud Computing in library services between 2002 and 2023. The steps in this bibliometric analysis are as follows: (i) conducting a keyword search in the SCOPUS database; (ii) choosing full articles that were released between 2002 and 2023; (iii) removing items that are duplicates or do not cover Cloud Computing and library services; and (iv) using a list of the articles with the highest citations R and VosViewer software for the remaining analysis (Santos et al 2017).

Bibliometric analysis is prepared by taking into account the organization and presentation of the systematic items. It usually involves collecting a data set of publications, such as books, patents, or articles, and then analyzing and interpreting the data using a variety of quantitative metrics (McBurney and Novak 2002).

Citation counts: This indicator shows how frequently a publication has been cited in other works. It is employed to determine the most prominent authors and institutions.

Co-citation analysis: This measure examines how similar the citation styles of several publications are. It is employed to identify groups of articles with closely related themes and research topics.

Co-authorship analysis: This measure counts the number of articles that multiple authors co-authored. It is employed to identify the writers and organizations that work together most frequently on a given topic (Table 1).

Network analysis: This type of analysis evaluates the relationships among different publications, authors, and organizations. It is employed to determine the key players and research questions in a field (Figures 1 and 2).

Figure 1:

Methodology structure.

Figure 2:

Main information.

The data has been collected from the SCOPUS database and analyzed through Biblioshiny and VosViewer. The overview of total publications is given below. A total of 1,083 documents were collected from SCOPUS on the topic of “Cloud Computing” in “Library Services.” Data was collected as of July 11, 2024, the total timespan was 2002–2023, and annual growth rate was 28.12 %. The total number of authors involved until 2023 is 3,762. The international collaboration with authors is 18.84 %, and the average number of co-authors per document is 4.16. The average citation per document is 19.93, which shows good, impactful articles; the total number of citations of until 2023 is 21,584.

5 Data Analysis and Interpretation

Annual Production: The annual production denotes the productivity of scholarly articles on the topic of Cloud Computing in libraries. Table 2 indicates all 22 years from 2002 to 2023. It is observed that maximum publication happened in 2022 (217, 20.04 %), followed by 2021 (207, 19.11 %), 2023 (182, 16.81 %), 2020 (174, 16.06 %), and 2019 (162, 15 %) (Figure 3).

Figure 3:

Annual production.

5.1 Three-Factor Plots (Country, Author, and Affiliation)

Figure 4 illustrates that countries engage in cloud computing research based on specific domains, often influenced by the availability of domain experts Researchers denote the top 10 authors in their country with affiliated institutions for research in the field of libraries. For instance, China has a significant impact on the respective research. Similarly, the USA also contributes a significant research output on Cloud Computing in libraries. Only two countries give less contribution to this research, France and Spain.

Figure 4:

Three-field plot. AU_CO, author country; AU, author; AU_UN, author affiliation.

5.2 Most Relevant Sources

The top 10 most relevant sources have the highest number of cited articles from the complete body of research. The source with the most documents is Lecture Notes in Computer Science (Including SUBSE) with 29 papers, followed by the ACM International Conference Proceeding Series with 24 documents and Library Philosophy and Practice with 23 documents. The source with the fewest documents is Proceedings of SPIE – The International Society for Optical Engineering, with eight documents. This information is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5:

Most relevant sources.

5.3 Sources’ Production Over Time

Figure 6 represents the scholarly production that happened over the studied period. We take five samples to describe this output. It was observed that Lecture Notes in Computer Science produces scholarly articles every year. The ACM International Conference Proceeding Series started its contribution on the topic in 2018 and continued on an upward trend until 2023. Elsewhere, Library Philosophy and Practice is one of the journals which continuously provided a contribution from 2019.

Figure 6:

Sources’ production over time.

5.4 Most Relevant Authors

The most pertinent authors who have contributed to the research area of cloud computing in libraries are displayed in Figure 7. Wang has the most publications (16), followed by Zhang (13). The least amount of documents were published by Li and Lu, who only published seven documents during the period.

Figure 7:

Most relevant authors.

5.5 Author’s Co-Citation Network

The authors’ co-citation relationship network chart in Figure 8 illustrates that only 94 of a selected 5,616 authors met the threshold. A node represents an author, and co-authorship is shown by lines joining two authors. A total of 338 links, with eight clusters, describe the collaboration of authors. The first cluster describes the cooperation of 26 links, the second shows 10 links, and so on.

Figure 8:

Authors’ collaboration network.

5.6 Countries’ Scientific Production and Collaboration

The world map below in Figure 9 shows countries’ scholarly production during the time studied. The dark spots indicate a high number of material contributed and light spots indicate a smaller number of publications. The maximum number of documents are produced by the USA and China, followed by India, Brazil, Canada, and others.

Figure 9:

Countries’ scientific production.

A country collaboration map is a geographical representation of the relationships between countries with published data in bibliometric analysis. Co-authorship amongst the nations is shown in Figure 10 with circles and labels. Each circle’s diameter corresponds to the total number of papers that each author has authored (Almulhim et al. 2021). Forty-two countries meet the requirement of a country having a minimum of five papers. Six clusters are indicated, each represented by a distinct color. With these six clusters there are a total of 259 links and 474 link strengths combined. Thirteen documents are noted in the first cluster, 10 in the second, six in the third, five in the fourth, four in the fifth, and only four in the sixth.

Figure 10:

Country collaboration.

5.7 Countries’ Most Cited Document

Figure 11 illustrates the most cited documents, and thus the research productivity, of countries. Citation is an essential component of an article. Without citation, one cannot judge whether the article is good or its impact on the journal. An impact factor varies for a journal based on citations. The most productive country on this list is Venezuela, with 8,212 times citations. The UK has 2,657 citations, its 204.4 average article citations. Among the list of countries, UAE only has 372 citations, but has 372 average article citations, which means one article they have published receives more citations than others. Table 3 indicates the countries and their total and average citations.

Figure 11:

Most cited country.

Table 3:

Most cited documents, country-wise.

Country	TC	Average article citations	Country	TC	Average article citations
VENEZUELA	8,212	8,212.00	FINLAND	32	10.70
UNITED KINGDOM	2,657	204.40	NETHERLANDS	29	29.00
CHINA	1,661	8.90	SOUTH AFRICA	28	14.00
USA	1,660	20.50	GREECE	20	3.30
IRAQ	467	233.50	BELGIUM	18	9.00
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES	372	372.00	JORDAN	16	8.00
INDIA	346	5.50	BANGLADESH	15	3.00
GERMANY	307	18.10	INDONESIA	15	3.80
AUSTRALIA	221	27.60	BAHRAIN	11	11.00
KOREA	197	9.80	CANADA	11	5.50
MALAYSIA	179	22.40	IRELAND	10	10.00
ITALY	164	8.60	NORWAY	8	8.00
TURKEY	148	21.10	ARGENTINA	7	1.40
FRANCE	135	15.00	CZECH REPUBLIC	6	6.00
SERBIA	129	64.50	HUNGARY	6	3.00
SAUDI ARABIA	125	31.20	KUWAIT	6	6.00
EGYPT	121	20.20	PERU	6	6.00
POLAND	110	12.20	UKRAINE	6	1.50
PORTUGAL	90	18.00	YEMEN	6	6.00
GHANA	81	40.50	MEXICO	4	2.00
PAKISTAN	79	11.30	ALGERIA	3	3.00
CYPRUS	78	39.00	SWITZERLAND	3	1.00
MOROCCO	71	17.80	THAILAND	3	3.00
SPAIN	64	9.10	MONTENEGRO	2	2.00
JAMAICA	58	29.00	SLOVENIA	2	2.00
JAPAN	53	3.80	GEORGIA	1	0.50
IRAN	52	5.80	ISRAEL	1	1.00
ECUADOR	45	11.20	TUNISIA	1	1.00
NIGERIA	43	8.60
ROMANIA	39	7.80
SWEDEN	38	12.70
BRAZIL	37	9.20

5.8 Most Productive Countries

Table 4 describes the countries with the highest amount of scholarly production over the years. The maximum output in the Cloud Computing field is from China (17.3 %), followed by the USA (7.5 %), India (5.8 %), and others (Figure 12).

Table 4:

Country-wise scholarly production.

Country	Articles	Articles %	SCP	MCP	MCP %	Country	Articles	Articles %	SCP	MCP	MCP %
CHINA	187	17.3	151	36	19.3	COLOMBIA	1	0.1	1	0	0
USA	81	7.5	69	12	14.8	CZECH REPUBLIC	1	0.1	1	0	0
INDIA	63	5.8	59	4	6.3	IRELAND	1	0.1	0	1	100
KOREA	20	1.8	11	9	45	ISRAEL	1	0.1	1	0	0
ITALY	19	1.8	14	5	26.3	KENYA	1	0.1	1	0	0
GERMANY	17	1.6	12	5	29.4	KUWAIT	1	0.1	0	1	100
JAPAN	14	1.3	12	2	14.3	MONTENEGRO	1	0.1	1	0	0
UNITED KINGDOM	13	1.2	7	6	46.2	NETHERLANDS	1	0.1	1	0	0
FRANCE	9	0.8	8	1	11.1	NIGER	1	0.1	1	0	0
IRAN	9	0.8	6	3	33.3	NORWAY	1	0.1	1	0	0
POLAND	9	0.8	6	3	33.3	PERU	1	0.1	1	0	0
AUSTRALIA	8	0.7	2	6	75	SLOVENIA	1	0.1	1	0	0
MALAYSIA	8	0.7	3	5	62.5	THAILAND	1	0.1	1	0	0
PAKISTAN	7	0.6	5	2	28.6	TUNISIA	1	0.1	1	0	0
SPAIN	7	0.6	7	0	0	UNITED ARAB EMIRATES	1	0.1	0	1	100
TURKEY	7	0.6	5	2	28.6	VENEZUELA	1	0.1	0	1	100
EGYPT	6	0.6	3	3	50	YEMEN	1	0.1	1	0	0
GREECE	6	0.6	4	2	33.3	ROMANIA	5	0.5	5	0	0
ARGENTINA	5	0.5	5	0	0	BRAZIL	4	0.4	2	2	50
BANGLADESH	5	0.5	5	0	0	ECUADOR	4	0.4	2	2	50
NIGERIA	5	0.5	3	2	40	INDONESIA	4	0.4	4	0	0
PORTUGAL	5	0.5	3	2	40	MOROCCO	4	0.4	4	0	0
FINLAND	3	0.3	3	0	0	SAUDI ARABIA	4	0.4	3	1	25
SWEDEN	3	0.3	2	1	33.3	UKRAINE	4	0.4	4	0	0

Figure 12:

Relevant countries.

5.9 Reference Spectroscopy

Reference spectroscopy refers to the historical origins of the study of Cloud Computing in libraries and the influence of publications on specific groups of publications. Figure 13 illustrates referred sources from 1947 to 2022. The maximum number of references is counted in 2018 (3,140), followed by 2019 (3,103).

Figure 13:

Reference spectroscopy.

5.10 Word Cloud

A word cloud is a visual representation of textual data where every word measure corresponds to how frequently or how important it appears in the text. Bibliometric analysis utilizes word clouds to ascertain the most prevalent terms and topics within a collection of documents such as research articles or patents. Figures 14 and 15 show the most used keywords by an author. Cloud Computing is the most used keyword (279 times), followed by machine learning (58 times). Artificial intelligence (24 times) and virtualization (19 times) are lesser used keywords.

Figure 14:

Author’s keywords.

Figure 15:

Author’s keywords.

5.11 Keyword Analysis

It is possible to gain insight into a field’s central theme and research direction by analyzing the co-occurrence of keywords. Consequently, we imported our data into VOSViewer and, using the derived keyword information, produced a visual map of keyword co-occurrence (Bhuyan et al 2021). After extracting 464 keywords (author keywords and others), a threshold requirement of appearing more than five times was applied to include the keywords in the visualization map. The nine clusters on 464 items are linked to 14,344 occurrences of the keywords. Figures 16 and 17 shows the clusters and their co-occurrence.

Figure 16:

Keyword analysis.

Figure 17:

Keyword analysis.

6 Discussion and Conclusion

Performance analysis and scientific mapping of Cloud Computing in library publications indicate various concerns significant to Cloud Computing research (Waghmare 2020). After 2017, research on the subject of libraries developed gradually. The adoption of Cloud Computing is growing, which is attributed to its numerous benefits for libraries (Yu et al. 2018).

The assessment of research output in the domains of LIS can be assisted by this bibliometric study on citation measurements. The results let users learn about research projects carried out by earlier researchers on a national and international scale (Naveed et al. 2023).

This study is helpful for trying to comprehend what has been published on Cloud Computing in LIS domains. The analysis indicates that 2022 was the most productive year for papers on Cloud Computing in LIS (Yip et al. 2020). Worldwide, only Venezuela, the United States, and China maintained their status as the most prolific nations by generating a maximum number of documents on Cloud Computing in library services; elsewhere, citations amount are as high as 8,212, and vary to 2,657, 1,661, and so on. The most prominent publications from 2002 to 2023 were produced in China (247), the USA (232), and India (136) (Zhou et al. 2019).

Washington University School, Stanford University, and Harvard Medical School are the most prolific institutions in publishing on the field of Cloud Computing in libraries (Chen 2019). Elsewhere, the research of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, ACM International Conference Proceeding Series was identified as the most prolific source in Cloud Computing within the domains of LIS (Harisanty et al. 2022).

The study demonstrates that “Assessing the determinants of cloud computing adoption and analysis of the manufacturing and services sectors” is the most cited research paper, with 8,212 citations. The focus on country collaboration among researchers indicates most links are with the United States, with 32, followed by India with 22 and China with 20.

The study also analyzed data on scientific publications related to the topic of “cloud computing in the library” and found that there are many publications on the subject, with keywords such as “cloud computing,” “big data,” and “cloud services.” China and the United States had the most significant amount of publications (n = 187, n = 81), with the maximum number of citations from Venezuela and the UK (TC = 8,212, TC = 2,657), with the most frequently used keyword being “cloud computing.” The study used a three-factor analysis: Country, Author, and Affiliation. The graph indicates that China and the USA are the most productive countries in research output.

The Lecture Notes in Computer Science (Including SUBSE) is the most prominent source for the production of scholarly articles from 2002 to 2023. The sources have been produced differently over the years, while production has gradually increased since 2010, with the authors Wang and Zhang noteworthy in constantly producing scholarly content on Cloud Computing research. In summary, this study provides valuable insights into the current state of research on organizational politics and offers suggestions for future research directions.