Extremism, radicalism and Islam: A bibliometric analysis using the scopus database (1926-2022)

Extremism and radicalism have far-reaching global implications and frequently associated with Islam, despite Islam being fundamentally a moderate religion. This study addressed the ongoing tension between such accusations and the core principles of Islam by employing the descriptive systematic literature review methodology. It aimed to examine global research trends on PCI by analysing the volume of published articles, collaborations between countries and academic institutions, and the co-occurrence of author’s keywords. This study employs a bibliometric approach to analyze publication trends, research collaboration networks, and scholarly impact within the field of extremism and radicalism from 1926 to 2022. The bibliometric analysis was conducted using VOSviewer to identify publication patterns, coauthorship networks, and frequently occurring keywords within the selected body of literature. Data spanning from 1926 to 2022 were collected and comprised 3,016 articles from journals and conference proceedings. Findings revealed a notable increase in annual publications since 2001, with over 200 articles published in 2020 alone. This surge links to global events like 9/11 and ISIS's rise while English (90%) was dominant language. "Islam" was the most significant keyword, linking to 'radical,' 'jihad,' 'terrorism,' and specific locations or groups. A substantial proportion of the research (35.3%) originated from the United States and the United Kingdom. The U.S. (20.2%) and U.K. (15.1%) were top contributors with high international collaboration. Taylor & Francis, publishing key journals, was the most productive. This study offers a comprehensive overview of the evolution of PCI research and underscores the critical role of international collaboration in advancing knowledge in this domain. Future research should include other databases (e.g., Web of Science) for comprehensive studies, avoiding exclusion of relevant articles using different search terms.