Digital division research trends: A bibliometric approach

Information and communication technologies are among the most powerful factors affecting the end of the twentieth century. Rapid technological developments in developed countries have led to great changes in almost every aspect of social life. Intelligent solutions implemented thanks to these developing technologies greatly increase the quality of life in society. However, there are differences between people and countries in terms of the access to and use of information communication technologies. The concept of "the digital divide" has emerged as an outcome of these differences. The digital divide is defined as the gap between people who can and cannot access, can and cannot use information and communication technology. In this study, various findings regarding the academic status of the studies on the digital divide that are available in the international literature and published in both the Web of Science and Scopus databases have been reached by using the bibliometric analysis method. The contributions of publications, institutions, journals, countries to the field have been explicated after identifying those active in the field. Research findings include the content analysis of the words used in the related studies as well as the evolution and connections of the concepts over time. It has been found in the study that Computers in Human Behavior is the top contributing journal, the University of Wisconsin is the top contributing institution and Van Deursen Ajam is the top contributing author to the digital division literature internationally.