A Bibliometric Analysis on Poverty and Media Studies

Abstract

Poverty is the inability of individuals to meet all or most of their basic needs to sustain their daily lives. Despite numerous proposed solutions throughout history for poverty, which is one of the greatest social and economic issues globally, the constantly evolving dynamics of societies have led to this situation becoming increasingly complex with each passing day. Therefore, combating poverty may require a multidimensional effort rather than a single dimension. Although this multidimensional effort is ultimately economic-based, it is crucial to consider it in conjunction with various factors such as social, political, cultural, educational, psychological, and even media influences. The aim of this research is to examine studies on media and poverty using bibliometric analysis method, and to contribute to the sustainability of discussions on media and poverty by identifying trends in research. In line with this objective, a total of 1491 research articles were included in the scope of the study, retrieved from the Web of Science (WOS) database, using the keywords “poverty” and “media” within the research subject, and limited to the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), and Arts & Humanities Citation Index (AHCI) indices. The bibliometric data obtained within the scope of the research was evaluated using graphs and visuals provided by the VOSviewer and Biblioshiny-R studio Bibliometrix package programs. Upon evaluation of the data obtained from the research, it was found that out of the 1491 research articles, 516 were authored by single authors and 975 were authored collaboratively. These articles were published in 1019 different journals by a total of 3789 authors. The results indicate that research on poverty and media has gained significance since 2020. Given that the subject of the research is poverty and media, researchers have predominantly used the keywords “poverty” (182) and “media” (79). These keywords are followed by “social media” (58), “covid-19” (39), and “inequality” (22). Additionally, the research reveals that the United States is the country with the highest number of conducted studies, with the most prolific authors being Mirjam Vossen, Van Gorp Baldwin, and Alem Adugnaw Zeleke. The highest number of the researches about poverty and media studies had been made by University of London in the United Kingdom. The journal with the most published articles is “Plos One,” and the countries with the most collaboration in this field are found to be the United States and the United Kingdom.