Global Research Trends of Cyberbullying and the Metaverse in the Virtual World: Bibliometric Analysis Using the Scopus Database

Cyberbullying has evolved from a traditional form of bullying to a more complex digital form. One of the latest aspects of this development is the emergence of the metaverse as a new arena for cyberbullying behavior. This topic has received attention in research, signaling the need for in-depth studies to understand the impact and new mechanisms of existing challenges. The research aims to identify key trends and topics in the literature on cyberbullying and the metaverse, as well as to describe the productivity of countries, institutions, authors, and publication sources. Using bibliometric analysis, the study investigates the development of research in this field over the past few years. The PRISMA method was used in the document selection process, and nine documents were found published from 2022 to 2024, including journal articles, books, and conference papers. The results of the study show that there is a significant trend and interest in cyberbullying, the metaverse, and virtual reality as the main topics. However, research linking cyberbullying to the metaverse is still limited and separate, suggesting an urgent need for research that integrates these two fields.