Usability Testing: A Bibliometric Analysis Based on WoS Data

Abstract

Usability is a qualitative characteristic that evaluates the ease of use of user interfaces. This study aims to conduct a systematic bibliometric analysis of usability testing and to understand the research context and trends in this field. A total of 5273 scientific publications from the Web of Science core collection were included in the study. Performance analysis, scientific mapping, and visualization were done using the RStudio package and the VOSviewer software tool. The results show that the interest in the area of usability testing has significantly increased, especially from 1991 to 2022. The United States has the highest number of publications, citations, co-citations, and ratios. Toronto University was top in terms of institutional contributions. The JMIR mHealth and uHealth led in the number of publications and citations. Khajouei has the highest number of publications, but Jaspers has received the most citations on usability testing. With 10264 total link strength, Nielsen has the most potent co-citation papers. This study reveals the latest research trends and hotspots and the current state of international collaboration in usability testing research, to indicate the most influential research channels. These findings include; the prominent countries, institutions, journals, original articles, and authors. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to conduct the bibliometric analysis on usability testing. These findings can be useful in shaping the direction of future studies on usability testing