Examination of Published Articles About Solo Travel with Bibliometric Mapping Technique

Abstract

While the number of solo travelers is increasing, there is limited research on this topic. This study aims to analyze the articles published on solo travel by using the bibliometric mapping method. Using the Web of Science database, all fields were selected in the search tab and "solo travel" was scanned. Article was selected as the document type, 170 journals were determined without any year or other limitations within the scope of the study, and 266 articles published between 1990-2023 were examined. Articles were analyzed using VOSviewer in terms of publications, authors, countries of authors, keywords in the publication and citations, using bibliometric analysis methods and visualized with network analysis. In line with the findings of the study, it was determined that the articles about traveling alone started to be published in the literature as of 1990 and showed fluctuations after 2005. It has been determined that the most cited journals are "Current Issues in Tourism" and "Tourism Review International", respectively. In addition, it was determined that the most frequently cited keywords were "solo travel", "motivation" and "pressure" in the articles examined, and Little and Wilson were the most cited authors. However, it has been determined that the most productive countries for solo travel are Australia, New Zealand, England and the USA, respectively. This study reveals that solo travel still offers unexplored areas for academic research and provides a basis to inspire future studies.