Navigating the midlife crisis: a bibliometric exploration of peer-reviewed articles from 2000 to 2023

Purpose This study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of influential contributors, research trends and emerging themes pertaining to the concept of midlife crisis over the past two decades. It also seeks to explore how scholarship on this topic has evolved, highlighting the key patterns and future research directions in the field of adult development and psychological well-being. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a bibliometric analysis with data from 124 articles retrieved from the Scopus database covering the period 2000–2023. The study explored a Biblioshiny package in R software to perform country collaboration mapping, citation and co-citation analysis thematic analysis and keyword co-occurrence mapping. This approach enabled the identification of major authors, journals, institutions and countries, contributing to the midlife crisis research. Findings The analysis revealed the most influential authors, journals in this field, studies and patters of international collaboration. Emerging themes centred on psychological aspects and well-being during middle age. The findings also depicted how scholarly networks have developed, highlighting significant co-cited authors and evolving conceptual focuses in the literature. Originality/value This study represents one of the unique comprehensive bibliometric reviews on midlife crisis. By systematically mapping the intellectual structure, and the emerging trends in this field, it provides valuable insights into its development, identifies research gaps and offers directions for future investigations into life transitions and adulthood development.