Industrial Metaverse as a New Component of Digital Transformation: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract— The digital transformation process in businesses operates within the data and knowledge cycle. This cycle ensures that all functions and units of an business collaborate effectively to achieve maximum efficiency from technological advancements. Recently, industrial metaverse technology has emerged as a new catalyst in the digital transformation process. This technology integrates with various other technologies to generate a virtual work environment akin to the physical workspace. The objective of this study is to identify the technologies and processes that industrial metaverse technology collaborates with and to provide a vision for researchers and businesses interested in this field. To achieve this objective, a bibliometric analysis was conducted on studies indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases using the keyword "industrial metaverse." The analysis included a total of 60 studies: 44 from the Scopus database and 16 from the WoS database. A comprehensive examination of these 60 studies was performed, with data compiled manually and analyzed using the Vosviewer application. The study concluded that industrial metaverse technology is associated with processes such as smart production, employee-technology collaboration, ensuring the functionality of the data and knowledge cycle infrastructure, employee training, and environmental sustainability. Additionally, technologies such as digital twins, blockchain, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), and artificial intelligence (AI) form the infrastructure of industrial metaverse technology. Keywords— Digital transformation, Industrial metaverse, knowledge management, technology and innovation management, Industry 5.0