Three decades of glocalization research: A bibliometric analysis

Abstract Glocalization, adapting global practices to local contexts, has become increasingly important in scientific research. However, the impact of global and local collaboration networks on glocalization remains underexplored. In this study, we conduct a bibliometric analysis to examine publications in the field of glocalization recorded in the Scopus database from 1993–2023. Using data from 12,046 publications, we identify key themes, publication trends, and methodological designs related to glocalization and collaboration networks. We then develop a theoretical model incorporating these factors to better understand the relationship between global and local collaboration networks and glocalization. This unprecedented study suggests that global and local collaboration networks are important in promoting glocalization in scientific research. We discuss the implications of our findings for future research and practitioners seeking to promote glocalization in their scientific endeavors.


Introduction
"Glocalization," coined in the 1980s, refers to integrating global and local elements in various cultural, economic, and social contexts (Miyoshi & Harootunian, 1989).Glocalization, by definition, is the process by which global and local forces interact and influence each other in shaping the world around us (Robertson, 1995, p. 28).It is the blending of the global and the local in various cultural, economic, and social contexts (Hao et al., 2016;Mommaas, 2016;Robertson, 1996Robertson, , 2001)).Glocalization has transformed how businesses and organizations operate by balancing the benefits of global and local strategies (Svensson, 2001).It has also changed how people perceive and consume goods and services by blending global and local preferences (Steenkamp, 2019).Given its increasing relevance in various cultural, economic, and social contexts (Patel, 2017), the study of glocalization seems to offer great scientific potential, especially in global studies (Sun, 2009).It is useful to approach glocalization from a global studies perspective, as it concerns the interplay between global and local factors in shaping the world around us.Glocalization, as explored by Robertson (2013), offers valuable insights into comprehending the intricate interplay between global and local forces within society.In the 1980s and beyond, secular-liberal countries adopted a teleological approach towards modernity, wherein they sought to extend their local ontology to a global scale.Consequently, globalization took on connotations of democratization, liberalism, and other associated ideologies (Akan, 2023;Fitzgerald, 2022;Ohm, 2011).By acknowledging this context, we can better grasp the multifaceted nature of glocalization and its significance in our modern world.
Glocalization has also impacted how people perceive and consume goods and services (Racoma, 2018).Blending global and local preferences has led to new market segments and adapting products and services to local tastes and cultures.Furthermore, the study of glocalization can also provide valuable insights into the field of communication studies (Wellman, 2002), as the rise of digital media and the internet has facilitated the spread of information and ideas across borders, leading to increased cross-cultural communication and the development of virtual communities and networks (Harlow & Harp, 2012;Ray, 2014).Overall, the study of glocalization offers a valuable lens for understanding the complex and dynamic interactions between global and local factors in shaping our world and its potential for providing valuable insights into various fields of study (Giulianotti & Robertson, 2004, 2012;Hampton, 2010;Ilan, 2019;Ju, 2014;Kraidy, 2009;Matusitz & Leanza, 2009;Tonglin, 2010).
Three influential works contribute significantly to the academic discourse on globalization and glocalization.Falk's "Predatory Globalization: A Critique" draws attention to the detrimental effects of globalization, prompting readers to question its underlying power dynamics (Falk, 1999).Sachs and Santarius' "Fair Future" underscores the need for resource equity, social justice, and sustainability in a globalized world (Sachs & Santarius, 2007).Scholte's "Globalization: A Critical Introduction" provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the complexities and nuances of globalization, encouraging critical engagement and analysis (Scholte, 2005).By exploring these works collectively, scholars and researchers gain a richer understanding of the multidimensional nature of globalization and its implications for societies, economies, and the environment.
According to several authors, including Harlow and Harp (2012), Khondker (2004), and Zhou et al. (2017), a bibliometric analysis of glocalization in scientific research is an important trend.Pollifroni (2017), Roldan (2010), and Shamsuddoha (2008) further suggest that studying glocalization in scientific research can yield valuable insights into how global and local factors interact to shape the scientific landscape.Moreover, key metrics such as authorship, funding, and collaboration networks are important indicators of the impact of glocalization on scientific research.

Problem statement
Despite the growing interest in glocalization in scientific research, there is a lack of research on effectively utilizing bibliometric analysis to study this phenomenon.Bibliometrics is a tool that enables the analysis of scientific publications and their citations to gain insights into the patterns and trends of scientific research.Therefore, there is a need to explore the potential of bibliometric analysis in gaining insights into the impact of glocalization on scientific research.

Objective
This study seeks to explore the potential of bibliometric analysis in gaining insights into the impact of glocalization on scientific research.It also seeks to encourage researchers to develop the necessary skills to use bibliometric analysis tools in interpreting their findings.

Scope
This study investigates the role of global and local factors in shaping the scientific landscape and assesses the implications of glocalization research for the future of science and innovation.It will examine different countries' scientific output, the extent of international collaboration, and the balance of global and local funding sources with respect to glocalization research..

Significance
The findings of this study may provide a better understanding of the dynamics of global and local factors in the scientific community and their effects on a country's ability to participate in the global scientific arena.Moreover, the study's results may inform policymakers and stakeholders about balancing global and local factors to promote science and innovation.Ultimately, this study aims to contribute to developing a more comprehensive framework for understanding the impact of glocalization on scientific research.
The authors have been investigating the concept of glocalization and its implications on various domains of human life.The study aims to explore the current academic debates and identify significant research and researchers in the field, as well as the pace of publications.In recent years, scholars and experts have delved into the intricate aspects of glocalization and its impact on the global and local scales.Organizations and businesses are leveraging the idea of glocalization to reach a wider audience and cater to their diverse needs (Juergensmeyer et al., 2018).Cultural globalization, a facet of glocalization, raises concerns regarding the preservation of cultural heritage and identity (Bauman, 2004;Robertson, 1996).The proliferation of transnational corporations and the expansion of consumerism have contributed to cultural homogenization, blurring the distinctions between the global and the local (Byrnes, 2007;Elteren, 2003;Nam, 2013;Pieterse, 1996).However, glocalization enables individuals to establish connections and foster collaborations across borders, engendering a novel form of global interconnectedness.It is important to note that some perceive glocalization as synonymous with westernization or Americanization, but Scholte's work sheds light on the concept, highlighting how "positive" globalization allows certain cultures to transcend borders and engage in interconnected activities (Scholte, 2005).This concept aligns with the earlier alluded understanding that glocalization enables individuals to "leapfrog" over borders and engage in interconnected activities.By embracing glocalization, cultures can transcend geographical limitations and foster interactions that contribute to global interconnectedness.This acknowledgment further emphasizes the importance of comprehending and navigating glocalization in our rapidly evolving world.
A comprehensive review integrates and summarizes the results of journal articles related to globalization and cultural studies.Despite the various studies found through the literature review, there is still a lack of understanding of the main trends and themes in the concept of glocalization.Utilizing the R bibliometric package allowed for the execution of quantitative and qualitative analyses of publication outputs and assessment of author contributions.Based on the information provided, it can be stated that there is a gap in the existing literature regarding the application of bibliometrics using the R package to analyze articles, books, and conference proceedings in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the interest and influence of glocalization across various disciplines, cultures, and countries.However, it is important to note that this claim is based on the authors' knowledge and may not necessarily reflect the entirety of the research conducted in this field.Although several studies have been conducted worldwide, examining the impact of glocalization in different contexts, fewer studies have investigated the previous research on glocalization in terms of its distribution and dissemination across academic domains, as well as its evolution and evolution growth over time.Using bibliometric analysis can provide valuable insights into the patterns of research output and collaboration, helping to identify the leading scholars and institutions and the most influential journals and conferences.This approach can also reveal the dominant theoretical perspectives, research methods, and key themes shaping the discourse on glocalization.By mapping the intellectual structure of the field, the bibliometric analysis can provide a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge and help guide future research directions in this important and evolving study area.The current research evaluates these studies' overall influence and productivity to see if other scholars are paying attention to this topic and to identify areas of strength and weakness in the field.
The main contributions of this research discuss the findings of 12,046 publications contributing to the literature on glocalization or glocalisation by using bibliometrics which is gradually extending to all disciplines.It is particularly suitable for science mapping when emphasizing empirical contributions produces voluminous, fragmented, and controversial research streams.It can be stated that the application of bibliometrics to analyze multiple emergent themes using quantitative variables in the context of glocalization has not been widely explored in previous studies.However, some studies may have utilized similar approaches in analyzing other topics or research areas.Nonetheless, this approach has the potential to enhance understanding of the advancements in the field of glocalization and provide valuable insights into the current state and future research directions in this area.
By building on Bibliometrix findings of previous interdisciplinary research, the description of the main Bibliometrix statistics is followed by the analysis of the results.Many recent studies have managed to theorize the nature of most relevant themes, like globalization, and different fields like sociology, economics, geography, COVID-19, and business.It is a large machine-human knowledge processing function capable of managing large amounts of information.
Bibliometric analysis has become widely adopted as a rigorous approach to comprehensively analyze vast amounts of scientific literature.Donthu et al. (2021) presents a comprehensive overview of the bibliometric methodology, focusing on its diverse techniques and providing meticulous and well-defined guidelines.These guidelines serve as a reliable resource for researchers aiming to undertake bibliometric analysis with confidence and precision.By following the step-by-step instructions outlined in the article, scholars can effectively navigate the complexities of bibliometric analysis, ensuring the thorough examination and interpretation of large-scale scholarly publications.The article's rigorous approach and attention to detail provide researchers with a solid foundation for conducting bibliometric studies, facilitating the systematic and methodologically sound exploration and analysis of scientific literature.
Using bibliometrics effectively identifies quantitative variables in a research stream (Junquera & Mitre, 2007).The five-step process of science mapping, as proposed by Aria and Cuccurullo (2017), was also employed in this study.The R package "Bibliometrix" was utilized to perform the bibliometric analysis.The topic dendrogram, conceptual map, and trend-topic figure were created to visualize the results further using "Biblioshiny," a Shiny software that provides a web-based interface for Bibliometrix.The conceptual map was utilized to select the primary keywords, identify more specific research topics, and assess the most highly cited articles and active geographical areas.The findings of this study were guided by the following research questions: What is the nature of glocalization research, and why is it important?To achieve this, the primary research questions (RQs) guiding this bibliometric analysis are: RQ 1: What is the current global trend in scientific publications regarding "glocalization"?RQ 2: What areas within this field have yet to be fully explored?(c) Explore the number of authors per article and identify the leading authors in the research area of "glocalization"; (d) Investigate the citation patterns and collaboration networks within this research stream through the use of citation analysis and a collaboration map; (e) Conduct a productivity and citation analysis for each country to understand the research landscape comprehensively.

Methodology
The methodology employed in this study is based on the bibliometric mapping approach, which is a well-established research area in bibliometrics.Bibliometric mapping involves using bibliographic data to visually represent the structure and characteristics of a particular field of research, including the interrelationships between different research topics, authors, institutions, and publications.This approach is often used to identify emerging research areas, analyze collaboration patterns, and track the evolution of a research field over time (Ahlgren et al., 2003;van Eck & Waltman, 2010;van Raan, 2019).The objective of this study is to use bibliometric methods to construct a map of the literature on glocalization and to provide a graphical representation of this map.In this study, the Scopus database was used as the primary source of information.The Scopus database is widely recognized as one of the largest abstract indexing databases and provides comprehensive coverage of various topics (Baas et al., 2020;Falagas et al., 2008;Wanyama et al., 2021).It offers advanced search options and is a valuable tool for researchers to identify relevant studies in broad areas.The study followed a five-step process: (1) Study Design, (2) Data Collection, (3) Data Analysis, (4) Data Visualization, and (5) Data Interpretation.The R software with Bibliometrix codes and Biblioshiny was used to obtain and record the quantitative data from the selected documents.The data was analyzed to understand the different aspects, such as leading authors, productivity, citations, and network of this research area.Additionally, the citation analysis and the collaboration map were used to understand the network of this research stream.

Study design
The study design of this research started with the formulation of the six main research questions.
Search terms or keywords were selected to identify relevant articles from the Scopus database on "glocalization."The study was based on examining English language journal articles from 1993 to 2023, as well as peer-reviewed materials in the field of peer assessment selection.The selection of 1993 as the initial year for our analysis, despite the earlier emergence of the term "glocalization" in the 1980s, was based on several influential factors.Firstly, the publication of "Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture" by Roland Robertson in 1992 garnered substantial recognition within the social sciences, establishing a notable foundation for the concept.
Secondly, the integration of glocalization into the economic sectors of numerous countries further underscored its significance as a pertinent phenomenon.Thirdly, the 1990s witnessed a marked increase in the scholarly and theoretical interest surrounding glocalization.Considering these factors collectively, we deemed 1993 as a judicious starting point for our study, facilitating the comprehensive examination of pertinent developments and discussions pertaining to glocalization within the scholarly discourse.The chosen keyword "glocalization" or "glocalisation" covered many results in the Scopus database.A total of 12,046 relevant articles were identified after thoroughly examining the basic information of all the documents and removing irrelevant items.The final number of documents was chosen due to the author's language proficiency and the prevalence of English language publications in the Scopus database (Figure 1).

Data analysis
Massimo Aria, from the University of Naples Federico, developed a Java software called Biblioshiny for Bibliometrix.This software integrates the features of the Bibliometrix package with the userfriendly interface of web applications, utilizing the Shiny package environment (Aria & Cuccurullo, 2017, 2020).The third stage of the research involves using the R software and Bibliometrix codes to conduct a descriptive bibliometric study.These tools help to classify and organize the 12,046 documents analyzed in the study.Furthermore, a co-citation network and conceptual map were created by utilizing Biblioshiny, a web-based interface of Bibliometrix, which facilitates the visualization of the relationships among the articles.This step provides valuable insights into the citation patterns and collaboration networks within the field of "glocalization" research (Figure 2).

Data visualization
In this stage, the analysis results were represented through data reduction techniques, which aimed to present the findings visually and comprehensively.By using this technique, the results were effectively visualized and easily understood.

Source(s): Authors
This image provides a step-bystep guide to installing and loading Bibliometrix and Biblioshiny in R Studio, as well as uploading a CSV data file to the Biblioshiny web interface, selecting bibliometric indicators, and generating visualizations.

Interpretation
The final stage of the study involves the interpretation of the analyzed data.The analysis of the results begins with a bibliometric description, which presents the main bibliometric statistics.The results are then analyzed considering the indicators and information provided by the authors.The countries are also analyzed in detail, taking into account several factors, including the type of document, annual scientific production, scientific sources, source growth, number of articles per author, the frequency distribution of scientific productivity, keywords of the author, thematic dendrogram, factorial map of the document with the highest contributions, citation of the articles, production of the country, citation of the country, map of collaboration of the country, and network of collaboration of the country.The thorough analysis of these categories provides insights into the impact and distribution of scientific knowledge and research in the field.

Descriptive bibliometric analysis
Table 1 showcases the primary data collected from the Scopus database for 12,046 publications from 1993 to 2023 as of 20 January 2023.These publications have been classified into ten distinct categories, including articles (7,133), book chapters (2,451), books (1,254), reviews (685), conference papers (264), editorials (204), notes (43), letters (6), short surveys (3), and conference reviews (1).The research period encompasses three decades of scientific contributions.However, a noticeable surge in the number of publications has been observed over the past decade (refer to Figure 3).The average annual increase in publications in the past decade is approximately 870.
It is interesting to note that the country which pushed "globalization" as replacing "development" in the 1990s, are the same countries that are now leading the scientific production on  The data reveals the average annual citations with significant peaks in 2002, 2001, and 2005.However, a decrease in citations was observed in 2020, 2021, and 2022, which might be attributed to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.The data demonstrates that the mean total citations per year in 2022 were recorded as 0.47, while in 2021, it was 1.04 (as depicted in Figure 5).

Source(s): Authors
The line graph presented in Figure 5 displays the average number of citations per year for papers related to the study topic of glocalization.The graph provides a visual representation of the trend in citation frequency over time, with each point on the line indicating the average number of citations received in a given year.

Sankey diagrams; three-field plots on glocalization
Sankey diagrams are a commonly used representation of energy or material flow within networks and processes.They visually represent the flow, connections, and transitions while incorporating quantitative details.Sankey diagrams feature weighted and directed graphs with weights that ensure flow preservation.The input weights at each node are equal to the corresponding output weights.These diagrams allow for the visualization of processes and enable the exploration of relationships and communication patterns (Riehmann et al., 2005).In Biblioshiny, the three-field plot is employed as a visual evaluation tool to examine the interrelationship among various factors such as sources, countries, affiliations, keywords, leading authors, cited sources, author-keywords, etc.The plot provides a comprehensive representation of the relationships between these factors.
Rectangular diagrams are employed to depict important elements using various colors graphically.The height of the rectangles represents the interrelationships between multiple features, including countries, sources, leading authors, and author-keywords, among others.The size of the rectangles indicates the strength of these relationships, with larger rectangles indicating a higher degree of interconnections between the components.The figure depicts the interdependence of sources (left), countries (middle), and authors (right) in publishing research.The diagram indicates that authors from countries such as the United Kingdom, USA, China, Canada, and Germany are significant contributors, and their research has been published in various sources (Figure 6).The representation helps to understand the distribution of authors across different countries and their publication in specific sources.
This study presents an analysis of the top academic journals that publish research on glocalization.The analysis has identified ten journals considered the most significant sources of publications in this field.Among them, the Sustainability (Switzerland) journal occupies the leading position with the highest number of publications on glocalization.Additionally, Geoforum has published 67 articles on this topic, followed by Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space (63 articles), International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (60 articles), Political Geography (53 articles), Urban Studies (52 articles), Progress in Human Geography (47 articles), Journal of Business Research (45 articles), Soccer and Society (45 articles), and Antipode (41 articles).These journals provide extensive research results on glocalization, making them valuable resources for scholars and practitioners interested in this subject.It is noteworthy to highlight that the majority of journals referring to the concepts of glocalization and globalization belong to disciplines such as geography, geopolitics, politics, sociology, among others.This observation bears significant implications, considering that globalization initially emerged as a concept aimed at disseminating the specific historical trajectory of the Western world as the universal history of humanity.Such a perspective carries geopolitical and political ramifications.The concentration of scholarly discourse on glocalization and globalization within these disciplinary realms signifies the recognition of the intricate relationship between these phenomena and various socio-political aspects.By focusing on disciplines such as geography, geopolitics, politics, and sociology, researchers acknowledge the significance of spatial dynamics, power relations, and social structures in shaping the processes of glocalization and globalization.This emphasis on specific academic fields reflects the awareness of the inherent geopolitical implications associated with the concept of globalization.The endeavor to globalize the particular historical narrative of the West bears profound political consequences as it involves the projection and dissemination of Western values, ideologies, and norms on a global scale.Recognizing the disciplinary domains predominantly engaged in the study of glocalization and globalization provides valuable insights into the multifaceted nature of these concepts and their entanglement with geopolitical and political dynamics (Figure 7).
The Three-field Plot presents a Sankey diagram demonstrating the interrelationships among three key components: sources, authors, and keywords.As seen in Figure 8, the diagram consists of a gray plot that links the three components and includes 17 journals that publish works on glocalization as the primary theme.The size of the rectangles in the plot reflects the number of publications associated with each component.The results indicate that "globalization" was the dominant theme, followed by "glocalization," "culture," and "transnationalism."In the middle field, it can be observed that the author Matusitz J. was the most prolific contributor, having published extensively on the keywords "globalization," "glocalization," "culture," and "transnationalism," predominantly in Globalizations journal.
The results indicate that the authors with the highest total citations in the field of glocalization are Ronald Robertson, Smith, Hall, and Lee, as demonstrated by their high visibility in the data (Figure 9).These authors have received the most recognition for their contributions to the study area.
Bradford's Law is a principle that states that a small number of highly productive sources contribute a large proportion of the total number of articles published in a given field of research.This principle can be applied to evaluate the productivity of sources in a particular field and determine the core sources.Figure 10 represents the core sources in the field of glocalization based on Bradford's Law.The sources are ranked based on the frequency of their citations, with "Sustainability (Switzerland)" as the most productive source.The total frequency is cumulative, meaning that the total number of citations for the sources in Zone 1 equals the sum of the frequencies of the sources in that zone.According to the data, four sources, "Sustainability (Switzerland)," "Geoforum," "Environment and Planning A," and "International Journal of Urban and Regional Research," are part of Zone 1, which contributes to a large proportion of the total number of citations in the field of glocalization.The presence of these sources in the top five highly productive sources highlights their significance and impact in this field of research.Figure 10 represents the core sources in the field of glocalization based on Bradford's Law.The chart provides a concise overview of the most significant and impactful sources in the field of glocalization, allowing researchers to identify core sources for their research.

Most relevant authors
The data presents the most relevant authors based on the number of articles they have published and the percentage of those articles that have been fractionalized.McCarty T. L. emerges as the top author with 26 articles, 19 of which have been fractionalized.Brenner N. and Czarniawska B. follow closely behind with 22 and 19 articles, respectively.Boelens R. and Robertson R. have 24 and 22 articles published, respectively, while  The articles fractionalized for each author range from 7% to 20.08%, indicating the degree to which their articles have been cited and potentially contributed to subsequent research (Table 2).
Figure 11 presents information about the local impact of different sources in the field of glocalization.The elements include "TC" (total citations), "NP" (number of publications), and "PY_start" (year of starting publication).The "h-index" is a metric that measures the productivity and impact of a scholar's work by considering the number of published papers and the number of citations received.The "g-index" measures a scholar's overall scientific productivity.At the same time, the "m-index" measures the impact of a scholar's work by combining the h-index and g-index."TC" represents the total number of citations received by the source, while "NP" indicates the number of publications produced by the source.The "PY_start" indicates the year in which the source began publishing.The sources listed in the table, such as the "International Journal of Urban and Regional Research," "Progress in Human Geography," "Urban Studies," and "Political Geography," have a high local impact as indicated by their high h-index, g-index, and m-index values, as well as the high number of total citations received.Lotka's Law provides a good representation of author productivity regarding the number of documents published.According to the data presented, approximately 80% of the authors have published only one document, while only 0.8% have published ten or more documents.The proportion of authors decreases as the number of documents increases, demonstrating a skewed productivity distribution among authors.The results suggest that most authors tend to publish fewer documents.In contrast, few authors are highly productive and contribute important documents to the field (Figure 12).   Figure 14 presents data on the distribution of articles based on the corresponding authors' countries of origin.It includes information on the total number of articles, the number of articles with single corresponding authors (SCP), the number of articles with multiple corresponding authors (MCP), the frequency (Freq), and the ratio of MCP to SCP.The data reveals that the country with the highest number of articles is the United States, with 1104 articles, followed by the United Kingdom, with 831 articles.The data shows that out of the total number of articles, the largest proportion a single corresponding author (762).Most articles have a corresponding author from the USA, with a frequency of 0.092.The MCP ratio indicates the proportion of articles with multiple corresponding authors relative to those with single corresponding authors.The country with the highest MCP ratio in China, with a ratio of 0.280, indicating a higher proportion of articles with multiple corresponding authors than other countries.
Table 3 presents data on the most cited countries based on the total number of citations (TC) and the average citations per article.The country with the highest TC is the United States (USA), with 50,185 citations, and the average citation per article in the USA is 45.46.The United Kingdom follows with 35,049 total citations and an average of 42.18 citations per article.Canada is third, with 9136 total citations and an average of 35.27 citations per article.Australia and the Netherlands follow with 6517 and 4173 total citations, respectively, and average citations per article of 20.18 and 23.06, respectively.The remaining countries listed, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, and China, have decreasing total citations and average citations per article.Table 4 provides data on the most globally cited documents.The data includes the paper's title, its DOI (digital object identifier), the total number of citations it has received, the average number of citations it receives yearly, and the normalized total citations (TC).The table indicates that the paper "Brenner N., 2011, New State Spaces: Urban Gov and the Rescaling of Statehood" has received total citations and the highest normalized TC per year, with 2117 total citations and 53.68 normalized TC per year.The other papers in the table are also ranked according to the number of total citations and normalized TC per year.
Figure 15 represents the frequency of selected terms in a corpus of text data, which can be visualized in a word cloud representation.The terms in Figure 16 are ranked based on their

TC per Year
Normalized TC frequency of occurrence.The most frequent term is "globalization," with a frequency of 662, followed by "glocalization," with a frequency of 401.Other terms in the Figures 15 and 16 include "China," "identity," "culture," "scale," "glocalisation," "cosmopolitanism," and "India."Both figures provide insights into the most frequently discussed themes in the corpus of text data, which can be useful for further analysis and research.
Table 5 shows the frequency of the terms "globalization," "glocalization," "China," "identity," and "culture" over ten years, starting from 2014 to 2023.The frequency is represented by the number of times each term appears in a given year.The table indicates that the frequency of "globalization" has increased over the years, with the highest frequency recorded in 2023.The frequency of "glocalization" also increased over the years but at a slower rate than "globalization."The frequency of the terms "China," "identity," and "culture" have also increased over the years, but the increase has been relatively slow and consistent.
The trend topics over time are depicted in Figure 17 Analysis reveals that from 2016 to 2018, the theme of glocalization was prevalent.However, from 2020 to 2023, the dominant trend terms

Source(s): Authors
The word cloud in Figure 15 visualizes the frequency of selected terms in a corpus of text data, with a larger font size indicating higher frequency.included early childhood education, the COVID-19 pandemic, and circular economy.Additionally, the concept of the global-local nexus has been a widely discussed topic over the past two decades.

Clustering by documents coupling
The results of the clustering by document coupling are presented in Figure 18 The figure depicts the formation of clusters based on the global citation score of the documents.The X-axis represents the centrality of the documents, while the Y-axis represents their impact.The analysis of the data reveals the presence of two distinct clusters.Cluster 1, located in the top right quadrant, showcases high centrality and impact.This highlights the importance and high demand of the documents belonging to this cluster, which include themes such as globalization, cities, and globalization theory.Cluster 2, on the other hand, is situated in the top left quadrant and exhibits a good impact but low centrality.This indicates that the documents belonging to this cluster have less commonly addressed themes but are still progressing toward development.It is important to note that documents in the bottom left quadrant, characterized by low impact and centrality, indicate a downward trend and may require further attention.

Co-occurrence network of author's keywords
The co-occurrence network analysis reveals that the most central nodes in the corpus are globalization, glocalization, identity, and scale.These nodes belong to two main clusters: cluster 2, which includes terms related to the economic and political aspects of globalization, such as globalization, glocalization, India, and China; and cluster 5, which includes terms related to the cultural and social aspects of globalization, such as identity, globalization, culture, and cosmopolitanism.The nodes with the highest betweenness centrality are globalization and glocalization, indicating they act as bridges between clusters and topics.The nodes with the highest closeness centrality are globalization and glocalization, indicating that they are the most accessible and influential nodes in the network (Figure 19).
A Factorial Analysis using multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was conducted with a DE field, 1-gram, and two clusters.The analysis revealed that the first and second dimensions of the conceptual structure map consisted of words such as "culture," "globalization," "globalisation," "scale," "glocalization," "identity," "neoliberalism," "cosmopolitanism," "India," "transnationalism," "social media," "governance," "covid.19,""migration," and "higher education."The analysis found that the  words were closely related in their conceptual structure and were thus divided into a single cluster.The analysis suggests that the terms are interconnected and share common features, indicating that they are associated with the same underlying concept.Cluster 1 was characterized by negative values on Dim.1 and positive values on Dim.2, with terms including "globalization," "glocalization," "China," "identity," "culture," "globalisation," "scale," "glocalisation," "cosmopolitanism," "India," "neoliberalism," "sustainability," "transnationalism," "social media," "governance," "migration," "higher education," and "covid-19."The findings highlight the complexity of the conceptual structure, as the analysis does not show a clear separation between different clusters or subgroups of terms.The results indicate that the analyzed terms are highly related and have intricate conceptual structures.Overall, the study shows that the analyzed terms are interconnected and have a common underlying concept, reflected in their grouping within Cluster 1.The analysis does not show a clear separation between different clusters or subgroups of terms, indicating that the analyzed terms are highly related and have complex conceptual structures (Figure 20).
The relationships between different keywords can be visualized and analyzed by constructing a dendrogram of words using hierarchical clustering.As noted by Franceschet (2009), this method can identify the exact associations and the number of clusters generated, thus enabling researchers to pinpoint critical variables among various studies.Using dendrograms in hierarchical clustering analysis can be a powerful tool for exploring relationships and patterns in complex data sets.It can be particularly useful in marketing, psychology, and social sciences, where understanding the relationships between variables is crucial.
Figure 21 illustrates the dendrogram of words for glocalization, which consists of two main branches.The first branch emphasizes the local and global aspects of glocalization, while the second branch is more complex and involves various subcategories, indicating more areas of interest and connection.The dendrogram analysis allows for a better understanding of the relationship and clustering of keywords related to glocalization, providing insights into the key concepts and themes in this field.Moreover, the second branch's complexity implies a rich potential for exploring and developing the subcategories, which can offer valuable insights into understanding and applying glocalization.
Figure 22 presents the results of a co-citation network analysis, which aims to identify key nodes and clusters in a network of scholarly literature.The analysis reveals each identified author or

Source(s): Authors
Depicts the results of a factorial analysis using MCA on a DE field, 1-gram, and two clusters.The analysis generated a conceptual structure map that visualizes the relationships between words based on their co-occurrence in the documents related to glocalization.publication's node, cluster, betweenness, closeness, and page rank.The analysis identifies several influential authors, such as Roland Robertson, Manuel Castells, Anthony Giddens, Pierre Bourdieu, Arjun Appadurai, and Zygmunt Bauman, who has been widely cited in the literature.The results suggest that the field of study is multidisciplinary, as the identified authors represent different disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, and communication studies.Additionally, the results indicate that the identified authors have made significant contributions to the study of globalization and glocalization, with Robertson and Castells having highest betweenness and page rank scores.The co-citation network analysis provides valuable insights into the structure and content of the scholarly literature on globalization and glocalization.

Country collaboration
Figure 23 represents countries' collaboration as a world map, highlighting the number of collaborations between countries.The results indicate that the USA has the highest number of collaborations with the United Kingdom (110), followed by Canada (83), China (59), and Australia (48).After the USA, the UK has the highest number of collaborations with Australia (60), Germany (50), Italy (41), the Netherlands (41), and China (40).China with Hong Kong has collaborated on 40 documents.The findings suggest that certain countries have established stronger collaborations, while others appear to have limited collaborations.The data may have implications for understanding international relations, political alliances, and economic partnerships between countries.

Discussion
Gaviria-Marín (2021) noted that bibliometric studies have become increasingly popular in providing an overview of current research across various scientific disciplines.Over the last decade, the frequency of bibliometric studies has significantly increased, indicating their growing importance in assessing the state of scientific research.Given the significance of bibliometric studies, continuing to refine and develop bibliometric methods is imperative.This study contributes to the ongoing discussion about bibliometric studies by examining their benefits and limitations and exploring potential avenues for future research in the context of glocalization.
The primary objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive analysis of three decades of glocalization research using bibliometric techniques to enhance the understanding of the advances in this field and provide insights into the current state and future research directions.This study combines bibliographic data from Scopus for Bibliometric analyses with network  visualizations to characterize the current landscape of glocalization research, analyzing the contributions of countries, institutions, journals, authors, high-citation documents, and keywords to this field.The data reveals that the annual publication output in the field has increased steadily since its emergence in the 1990s.
The findings show that the United States has the highest scientific production, followed by the United Kingdom and Australia.The largest source of publication is "Sustainability" from Switzerland.The authors with the highest total citations in field of glocalization are Ronald Robertson, Smith, Hall, and Lee.The top authors based on the number of published articles and percentage of fractionalized articles are McCarty T. L., Brenner N., Czarniawska B., Boelens R., and Robertson R. The sources, such as the "International Journal of Urban and Regional Research," "Progress in Human Geography," "Urban Studies," and "Political Geography," have a high local impact as indicated by their high h-index, g-index, and m-index values, as well as the high number of total citations received.The data indicates a skewed distribution of author productivity, with a minority of authors contributing a significant number of documents to the field.The data on the distribution of articles based on the corresponding authors' countries of origin reveals that the USA has the highest number of articles.In most globally cited documents, the paper "Brenner N, 2011, New State Spaces: Urban Gov and the Rescaling of Statehood" has the highest total citations and normalized TC per year.
The analysis shows that the theme of glocalization was prevalent from 2016 to 2018, while early childhood education, the COVID-19 pandemic, and circular economy are the dominant trend terms from 2020 to 2023.The co-occurrence network analysis reveals that the most central nodes in the corpus are globalization and glocalization.The co-citation network analysis identifies influential authors such as Robertson, Castells, Giddens, Bourdieu, Appadurai, and Bauman, who represent different disciplines and have significantly contributed to studying globalization and glocalization.Robertson and Castells have the highest scores.
The study has several limitations that may affect the generalizability of the findings.Firstly, the scope of the study is limited to the analysis of bibliometric data from all types of research publications, which may restrict the application of the findings to specific domains.Future research may narrow the scope to specific domain publications, such as cinema, geography, tourism, and television, to provide a more comprehensive analysis.Secondly, the study only uses Scopus data as the primary data source, which may limit the breadth and depth of the analysis.Future studies may explore other databases, such as Web of Science and Google Scholar, CNKI, to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the glocalization research landscape better understanding of the state of research in those areas.Thirdly, the study only examines bibliometric data and does not provide insight into the content or quality of the publications analyzed.Further research could employ qualitative methods to gain a deeper understanding of the contributions and limitations of the publications analyzed.Additionally, we recommend for future research, acknowledging the need for further exploration and analysis in this area.

Conclusion
In conclusion, this study contributes to the ongoing discussion about bibliometric studies by comprehensively analyzing three decades of glocalization research.The findings highlight the significant contributions of authors, institutions, countries, and sources to the field, as well as the most frequently discussed themes and influential authors.The study's limitations underscore the need for future research to employ a more comprehensive approach to analyzing bibliometric data and to include qualitative methods to gain a deeper understanding of the content and quality of the publications analyzed.This study provides a valuable resource for researchers and scholars interested in glocalization and its evolution.
This exploratory bibliometric analysis of glocalization research over the past three decades provides a valuable foundation to build upon through further in-depth investigation.While this study analyzed publication trends and productivity, future work should also examine the evolution of theoretical perspectives, methodologies, and core themes over time.In particular, qualitative content analysis of highly cited publications could reveal deeper insights into how conceptualizations of glocalization have developed.Additionally, expanding the data sources beyond Scopus to include other scholarly databases may offer a more comprehensive view of global research productivity and collaboration networks.Further bibliometric research could also focus on regional or disciplinary differences by narrowing the scope of the literature analyzed.Overall, this pioneering study has established a baseline understanding of the glocalization knowledge domain, paving the way for more targeted bibliometric analyses that track and explicate ongoing developments in this critical area of global studies.

RQ 3 :
What future directions might research in this area take?RQ 4: What is the current state of research in the glocalization domain?RQ 5: Who are the most influential and productive scientists in glocalization?RQ6: What are the leading keywords and the most notable research clusters associated with glocalization?The aim of this study is to: (a) Provide a bibliometric analysis of 12,046 scientific studies found in the Scopus database; (b) Utilize the R software along with the Bibliometrix and Biblioshiny codes to collect and analyze quantitative data from the selected documents;

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Flow chart of the study.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Code syntax and procedure for Biblioshiny: the shiny app for Bibliometrix.

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Figure 4. Country scientific production.Source(s): AuthorsIs a world map that displays the scientific production of papers related to glocalization across various countries.The map shows a range of values, with a maximum of 3698 and a minimum of two papers produced by each country.

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Figure 5. Average citations per year.

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Figure 6.Three-Field Plot (sources, countries, and authors).Source(s): Authors Displays a Sankey diagram representing a three-field plot, with sources on the left, countries in the middle, and authors on the right.The diagram visually represents the relationships between these factors, using rectangular diagrams of varying colors to depict important elements.The diagram illustrates the flow, connections, and transitions between sources, countries,

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Figure 7.Most Relevant sources.Source(s): Authors Displays a chart that shows the top ten most relevant sources, ranked by the number of publications published in each journal.The chart provides a concise overview of the most relevant sources to the study topic.

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Figure 8.The three-field plot of glocalization research.Source(s): Authors Displays a Sankey diagram representing a three-field plot, with sources on the left, authors in the middle, and keywords on the right.The diagram visually represents the relationships between these factors, using rectangular diagrams of varying colors to depict important elements.The diagram illustrates the flow, connections, and transitions between these factors while incorporating quantitative details.

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Figure 9. Local cited sources (authors).Source(s): Authors Displays a graph demonstrating the top ten most relevant authors, ranked by the number of citations.The chart provides a concise overview of the authors most relevant to the study topic.

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Figure 10.Core sources by Bradford's Law.Source(s): Authors

Figure 13
Figure 13 displays the production of articles over time by different affiliations.It showcases the number of articles on glocalization produced in 2021, 2022, and 2023 by two universities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the University of California, and one institute, the University of Manchester.The data indicates that The Hong Kong Polytechnic University has consistently produced articles in the last three years, with 80 articles produced in 2023, 79 in 2022, and 66 in 2021.Meanwhile, the University of California also showed a steady production of articles in the last three years, with 61 articles produced in 2023 and 2022 and 57 in 2021.The University of Manchester also produced a similar number of articles in 2022 and 2023, with 56 articles each, while the University of London produced 54 articles in 2022.This information provides a glimpse into the research output of different affiliations and helps evaluate the research productivity of different institutions over time.

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Figure 11.Local impact of different sources.Source(s): Authors displays a bar chart representing the local impact of various sources in the field of glocalization.The horizontal axis shows the number of local citations, while the vertical axis represents sources.

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Figure 12.Author Productivity through Lotka's Law.Source(s): Authors illustrates the application of Lotka's Law to author productivity, which provides a mathematical model to predict the number of authors who published a certain number of documents based on the productivity distribution in a given field.

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Figure 13.Institutions' productivity over time.Source(s): Authors The productivity of institutions over time, indicating the number of articles produced by different affiliations.

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Figure 14.Corresponding author's countries.Source(s): Authors Displays a bar graph that illustrates the distribution of corresponding author's countries regarding the number of documents published as a single country publication and multiple country publication.

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Figure 16.Treemap of the frequently top 50 terms.Source(s): Authors Shows a tree map of the top 50 frequently occurring terms in the corpus of text data, with the size of each rectangle corresponding to the frequency of the term.

Figure 17 .
Figure 17.Trend topics.Source(s): Authors Shows the trending topics over time.The horizontal axis represents the years covered in the analysis, the vertical axis indicates the trending topics, while ball size shows the frequency of trending topics

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Figure 18.Clustering by Documents Coupling.Source(s): Authors Shows the results of clustering by document coupling.The figure represents the formation of clusters based on the global citation score of the documents.

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Figure 19.Co-occurrence network of author's keywords.Source(s): AuthorsDepicts a co-occurrence network of the author's keywords, which shows the relationship between different keywords in the corpus.The node's size reflects the keyword's frequency, with larger nodes indicating higher frequency.The thickness of the edges between nodes represents the strength of the co-occurrence relationship between the keywords.

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Figure 20.Factorial analysis using Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA).

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Figure 21.Dendrogram of words.Source(s): Authors Shows the dendrogram of words related to glocalization, represented by two main branches.The first branch highlights the local and global aspects of glocalization, while the second branch is more intricate and includes several subcategories, indicating more areas of interest and connection.The visualization provides an overview of the relationships between words related to glocalization and their hierarchical clustering.

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Figure 22.Co-citation network.Source(s): Authors Illustrates a co-citation network between authors, with each node representing an author and the lines between them indicating their co-cited relationship.The node size reflects the number of cocitations, with larger nodes indicating higher co-citation frequencies.The figure provides a visual representation of the interrelationships between authors in the field of glocalization and can be used to identify prominent authors and research areas.

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Figure 23.Countries' collaboration world map.Source(s): Authors Provides a world map that presents the geographical representation of international collaboration among countries based on research publications.The map uses lines of varying thicknesses to depict the strength and frequency of collaboration between countries.The lines indicate the number of joint publications between the two countries.