Recent Trends in Air Transport Research: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

The aim of this manuscript is to detect recent trends in air transport research through a bibliometric analysis. We retrieved all articles published between 2013 and 2022 in the Q1 of the Transportation ranking of the Social Sciences Citation Index published in the Journal Citations Reports (Q1-T), and in the Journal of Air Transport Management. Among these records, we retained for the analysis the articles related to air transport. Analyzing the author keywords of articles and retaining the Top 10 cited articles in each of the samples, we identified six research topics for each of the samples. Both samples share the topics of Industry Analysis, Air Traffic Management and COVID-19 and Air Transport. The specific topics of Q1-T sample are High Speed Rail and Air Transport, Environmental Impact of Air Transport and UAV and Urban Air Mobility. We also found that materials of Q1-T are mainly written from the regulator perspective, and JATM materials from the perspective of airport and airline managers. We believe that these results are useful for administrators evaluating air transport academics, and air transport academics themselves looking for new avenues of research and stakeholders of the air transport industry interested in evidence-based decision making.