Hospitality & Society: A bibliometric analysis and the evolution of its research agenda

This bibliometric study investigated the state of hospitality research in a sample of documents published in the periodical Hospitality & Society (H&S) from 2011 to 2018. It presents an analysis of authorship, co-authorship, co-authorship networks, leading authors and institutions, words, co-words and themes, in an initial view of the social and conceptual structure of the hospitality study. The inquiry is complemented by the classification of sample articles in thematic categories according to the research agenda published in the editorial of the first edition of H&S. This analysis proved to be fruitful because of new perspectives on hospitality research beyond services related to accommodation, food and drink. The findings support researchers with a partial understanding of the hospitality field, and it suggests applying other bibliometric techniques and expanding the sample in future studies. Towards an update on the initial research agenda, representatives of different hospitality currents of thought should draw together to stimulate greater integration among researchers from the global North and South.