How Has E-Book Research Evolved? A Bibliometric Comparison of International Journal Publications (2000-2019)

Abstract

This study is a longitudinal observation of e-book research. Through a series of keyword searches, a total of 579 articles with 7,554 citations were obtained and collected from the Web of Science database. This study spanned the period 2000-2019, and research data retrieval was completed on June 24th, 2020. Through a bibliometric analysis, the top ten most frequently cited articles in each of the two decades that were covered were identified and compared. The findings were twofold. First, the main research topics across the two decades included a performance comparison between ebooks and the printed versions (e.g., in terms of vocabulary, comprehension, and reading rates) as well as e-book acceptance and usage in the academic library context. Second, in the previous decade, as opposed to the one prior, e-book research has seen more diverse research themes as the main foci; some emergent research topics, such as joint parent-child reading, the e-book's interactive learning system, and the theoretical model of e-book adoption were identified. It is also interesting to note that e-book research has expanded its territory beyond education and libraries to both the business and communication fields. Further discussion is provided.