Title: Mapping the intellectual structure and global research trend of eWOM: a bibliometric analysis using Scopus database

Authors: Kavita Verma; Kapil Malhotra

Addresses: Department of Commerce, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana, India ' Department of Commerce, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana, India

Abstract: Marketers need to have a deeper understanding of how consumers view and evaluate electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) content on multiple social media sites, to facilitate consumers' purchasing decisions. This study aims to provide a comprehensive bibliometric review of academic literature regarding eWOM. Using the well-framed search string, 634 articles were retrieved from the Scopus-indexed prestigious journals, and VOSviewer software with the Biblioshiny app using RStudio was applied to visualise and analyse the dataset from 2003 to 2023. The findings indicate a growing interest in eWOM research recently. The majority of the studies were conducted in developed countries like the USA and the UK. The observed outcomes are found controvert with bibliometric laws, i.e., Bradford's law and Lotka's law. Furthermore, citation analysis and bibliographic coupling analysis reveal existing conceptual research structure and also propose potential research avenues on eWOM investigations in online consumer behaviour using different social media platforms.

Keywords: electronic word-of-mouth; eWOM; bibliometric analysis; RStudio; VOSviewer; network analysis; online review; social media platforms.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEMR.2026.155075

International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 2026 Vol.18 No.1, pp.59 - 87

Received: 01 May 2023
Accepted: 14 Oct 2023
Published online: 27 Jul 2026 *

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