Article: Revisiting return migration: literature insights and a bibliometric perspective on emerging global mobility trends Journal: International Journal of Business Excellence (IJBEX) 2025 Vol.37 No.7 pp.1 - 26 Abstract: This paper examines the scientific research on return migration published over the past five decades using Scopus databases. The research aims to uncover the prevailing and emerging themes associated with return migration. A bibliometric framework is utilised to assess how academic attention toward return migration has evolved over time. It analyses the co-occurrence of keywords and bibliographic coupling using a dataset of 375 articles. The results are depicted in strategic diagrams and longitudinal maps, illustrating that over the past two decades, there has been a notable focus on gender studies related to immigrants. Additionally, there has been a significant emphasis on immigration education, higher education, and international students in the basic theme segment. This insight offers academics and professionals a more comprehensive view of the current state of knowledge. It will help them focus their research on the trend of return migration, its causes, benefits, and drawbacks. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Revisiting return migration: literature insights and a bibliometric perspective on emerging global mobility trends

Authors: Mohit Yadav; Mohan Kumar; Manju Dagar; Nilesh Kumar Tiwari; Ashutosh Pandey; Azadeh Amoozegar

Addresses: JGBS, O.P. Jindal Global University, Haryana, India; International School, Vietnam National University Hanoi, Vietnam ' Faculty of Commerce and Management, SGT University, Haryana, India ' Faculty of Commerce and Management, SGT University, Haryana, India ' Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow, India ' FORE School of Management, New Delhi, India ' Faculty of Education and Liberal Arts, INTI International University, Malaysia

Abstract: This paper examines the scientific research on return migration published over the past five decades using Scopus databases. The research aims to uncover the prevailing and emerging themes associated with return migration. A bibliometric framework is utilised to assess how academic attention toward return migration has evolved over time. It analyses the co-occurrence of keywords and bibliographic coupling using a dataset of 375 articles. The results are depicted in strategic diagrams and longitudinal maps, illustrating that over the past two decades, there has been a notable focus on gender studies related to immigrants. Additionally, there has been a significant emphasis on immigration education, higher education, and international students in the basic theme segment. This insight offers academics and professionals a more comprehensive view of the current state of knowledge. It will help them focus their research on the trend of return migration, its causes, benefits, and drawbacks.

Keywords: return migration; student mobility; migration policies; globalisation; human capital; bibliometric analysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2025.150979

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2025 Vol.37 No.7, pp.1 - 26

Received: 22 Oct 2025
Accepted: 06 Nov 2025
Published online: 06 Jan 2026 *

Title: Revisiting return migration: literature insights and a bibliometric perspective on emerging global mobility trends

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