Mapping the Disciplinary Infrastructure: A Bibliometric Analysis of Games and Culture's Role in Game Studies Scholarship (2006–2025)

This article conducts a bibliometric analysis of 816 Games and Culture publications (2006–2025) indexed in Scopus to explore how specialized journals shape the institutionalization of interdisciplinary fields. Through citation networks, keyword co-occurrence, authorship, and geographic analyses, it treats the journal as a model of scholarly infrastructure in game studies. Results reveal steady publication growth (from 20 to over 100 articles annually), increasing collaboration (2.39 authors per paper), substantial citation accumulation (2006–2008 works exceeding 3,000 citations), and diversification beyond anglophone regions. Temporal keyword trends trace thematic shifts from virtual worlds and MMOs to esports, ethics, gamification, and representation. These findings inform broader debates on how niche journals foster disciplinary legitimacy, showing that Games and Culture has been central to consolidating game studies and offers a transferable framework for examining institutionalization in other interdisciplinary domains.