The current state of published literature on halal tourism and hospitality: a bibliometric review

PurposeThis study aims to present the current state of published literature concerning halal tourism and hospitality studies.Design/methodology/approachThis research discovered 314 Scopus documents from 2003 until 2023 regarding existing studies related to this field. The present study then used a bibliometric analysis of this data set. The present research analysed the documents' bibliographical data based on year, source title, country of origin, institution, authors, keywords and citations. Microsoft Excel, bibliometrix, Harzing's Publish or Perish and VOSviewer software applications were used to conduct a frequency analysis, evaluate the impact and map bibliometric networks regarding halal hospitality. This study has presented the evolution of publications in the research field by year, the top players in source titles, countries, institutions and authors. This paper also evaluated the intellectual structure of existing research concerning halal tourism and hospitality and presented the most influential documents in this field. There were 112.21 citations per year, 7.21 per paper and 3.14 authors per paper.FindingsThe findings revealed that the study trend concerning halal tourism and hospitality had attracted the attention of academics and developed into a significant field in 2016. Malaysia and Indonesia have been the major contributors to halal hospitality research, with the highest proportion of authors.Research limitations/implicationsIn general, this study also has limitations similar to other studies. The research data were derived solely from the Scopus database, which has the advantage of being the most comprehensive database indexing all scientific works, even though it does not easily cover all available sources.Originality/valueThe present research has differed from previous research in that it examined literature published in Scopus concerning research on halal hospitality from 2003 to 2022. It analysed bibliographic data by year, source title, country, institution, author, keywords and citations.