A bibliometric study of metaphor research and its implications (2010–2020)

Abstract This exploratory study conducts a bibliometric analysis of metaphor research by CiteSpace to sketch its scientific landscape based on journal articles from 2010 to 2020 on Web of Science (WoS). We retrieved metaphor-related literature and acquired 1 210 related articles. Then, we analysed time range, region distribution and the most cited authors and works in references and attempted to use keywords combined with mapping knowledge to explore the most frequently discussed research topics, hotspots and development trends in metaphor research. Our studies evinced the following results: (1) the publications showed a stable upward trend over the past decade; (2) the most productive regions in this area are United States and some European countries, while developing countries, represented by China, have been emerging as academic powerhouses; (3) Lakoff and Johnson remain significant in this area, and scholars such as Kövecses, Gibbs, Ortony, and Crisp are the most frequently cited; (4) conceptual metaphor research and its interdisciplinarity are main topics, and cognitive metaphor, the neural mechanism of metaphor and metaphor in discourse and communication are the three most popular hotspots; and (5) the comprehensive study of conceptual metaphor theory and its multidisciplinary integration, discourse analysis and experimental analysis are research contents and method trends.