Mapping two decades of smart home research: A systematic scientometric analysis

Technological advancements such as information and communication technologies (ICTs), artificial intelligence (AI), internet-of-things (IoT), and the increasing popularity of the smart city and smart living movements during the last couple of decades boosted the developments in the smart home domain. Although the number of smart home related research has been expanding rapidly, there is still a lack of systematic analysis of the evolution of this research domain. This study helps to generate an understanding of the historical vicissitude, state-of-the-art and emerging trends, and the existing smart home research clusters. The study applies a scientometric method to analyse the published scholarly research (n = 17,153) over the last two decades, from 2000 to 2021. The scientometric analysis findings reveal that: Smart home literature has experienced steady growth during the last two decades; Smart home research has mainly clustered around ICT for home automation, home information management, AI for home automation, domestic energy management, IoT for home automation, and home-based healthcare areas; IoT is seen as the most popular technology to realise fully functioning smart homes; Limited evidence exists on the urban perspective and social issues of smart home technology; Smart homes are seen potentially as a strong driver of the smart city agenda.