Research trends in tourism and hospitality from 1991 to 2020: An integrated approach of corpus linguistics and bibliometricsResearch trends in tourism and hospitality from 1991 to 2020: An integrated approach of corpus linguistics and bibliometrics

Abstract:

Purpose – This study aims to track the historical development in tourism and hospitality research over the past 30 years by applying a novel interdisciplinary approach, combining both corpus linguistics and bibliometric analysis.

Design/methodology/approach – Most frequently discussed topics and newly emerging topics were identified by investigating 18,266 abstracts from 18 leading tourism and hospitality journals with corpus linguistics toolkit AntConc and natural language processing (NLP) tool spaCy. Trend analysis and bibliometric methods were used to determine the longitudinal changes of research topics, most highly-cited publications and authors’ production.

Findings – This study revealed the evolution patterns of the identified 576 most frequently discussed topics across the four subperiods (1991–2000, 2001–2010, 2011–2015 and 2016–2020). Specifically, results showed that information technology-related topics account for the largest proportion of the identified 38 newly emerging topics from 2011. Besides, researchers are increasingly focusing on the use of more sophisticated and advanced statistical methodologies.

Practical implications – This study helps researchers make sensible decisions on what research topics to explore; it also helps practitioners and stakeholders make the shift and track opportunities in the field.

Originality/value – No other studies have employed the novel interdisciplinary approach, combining corpus linguistic tools in linguistics, NLP techniques in computer science and bibliometric analysis in library and information science, for exploring research trends in tourism and hospitality.

摘要：

研究目的：本研究结合语料库语言学与文献计量分析，以一种新的跨学科方法追踪过去 30 年旅游与酒店管理研究的发展历程。

设计/方法：研究借助语料库语言学工具 AntConc 和自然语言处理（NLP）工具 spaCy，分析了该领域 18 种主要期刊的 18,266 篇摘要，识别出讨论最多的话题和新兴话题；并运用趋势分析和文献计量方法，考察研究话题、高被引文献和作者发文量的历时变化。

研究发现：本研究揭示了 576 个高频话题在四个子时段（1991–2000、2001–2010、2011–2015、2016–2020）中的演变模式。具体而言，在 2011 年以来出现的 38 个新兴话题中，信息技术相关话题占比最大。此外，研究者越来越多地采用更复杂、更先进的统计方法。

实践意义：本研究可帮助研究者合理选择研究话题，也有助于从业者和利益相关方顺应转变、把握领域内的机遇。

原创性/价值：此前尚无研究将语言学中的语料库工具、计算机科学中的 NLP 技术与图书情报学中的文献计量分析结合起来，探讨旅游与酒店管理的研究趋势。