Purpose This study aims to examine the incidence and contextual use of slang, profanity, expletives or vulgar language (SPEVL) in peer-reviewed scientific literature. Focusing specifically on the term “bullshit” (BS), it explores where and in what contexts such language appears and assesses whether ethical guidelines on respectful language in academic publishing are adequate. Design/methodology/approach A bibliometric analysis was carried out using the Scopus database on February 20, 2025. Publications containing the term BS in the title, abstract or keywords were identified, resulting in a dataset of 481 documents. Microsoft Excel and VOSviewer were used to examine temporal, disciplinary, institutional, geographic and citation patterns. A keyword co-occurrence analysis was conducted to explore the thematic structure of the literature. Findings The term BS was most frequently used in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Its usage has notably increased over the past decade. Most publications were in English and appeared in reputable journals, with a relatively high citation impact (FWCI = 2.5). Thematic clusters included psychological, sociocultural, educational, theoretical and organizational contexts. Research limitations/implications This study only considers records indexed in Scopus and does not include full-text content. Future research could explore other databases or conduct qualitative analyses to investigate the tone and purpose of SPEVL use in context. Additionally, clearer ethical guidance from publishers regarding language use is needed. Originality/value This paper is among the first to empirically identify SPEVL in the academic literature. It offers valuable insights for editors, publishers and those concerned with ethics regarding the boundaries of acceptable academic language and editorial responsibility.
Erfanmanesh et al. (Fri,) studied this question.