Analysing police in emergency response systems: a bibliometric review and mapping of global research trends

Purpose This study systematically examines the intellectual structure, thematic development, collaborative patterns and current research trends in police emergency response systems research through a comprehensive bibliometric analysis. Design/methodology/approach A total of 510 Scopus-indexed publications were analysed using Bibliometrix (R-package) and VOS-viewer. To explore the field's knowledge structure, bibliometric performance analysis and science-mapping techniques are used, including citation analysis, co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, collaboration analysis, keyword co-occurrence, thematic mapping and thematic evolution. Findings Research output has grown considerably since 2015, with the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom as the top three contributors. The intellectual foundations of the field were identified through citation and co-citation analyses, and the transition from operational to multidisciplinary research, with a focus on inter-agency cooperation, psychological resilience, interoperability, and technological capacity for emergency response, was examined through thematic analyses. The future directions for research are highlighted, with AI-related concepts, smart cities, responder well-being, resilience and digital emergency management emerging as themes. Research limitations/implications The analysis was restricted to Scopus-indexed English-language publications and to bibliometric methods, which cannot assess the methodological quality of every study and may overlook relevant studies published in other bibliographic databases and languages. Practical implications The results offer policy recommendations and evidence-based insights for policymakers, police organisations and emergency management agencies to enhance inter-agency collaboration, technological integration, organisational resilience and evidence-informed emergency response systems. Originality/value In this study, performance analysis and science mapping were successfully complemented and combined with a framework of past, present, and future within the context of the systematic synthesis of the literature of police emergency response systems research to obtain a comprehensive synthesis of the literature that provides a structured understanding of the evolution of the research area, the state of the art, and its future research agenda.