Mapping of Privacy and Protection in Social Science Research: A Bibliometric Analysis and Future Insights

Privacy and confidentiality are fundamental components in research, ensuring the protection of personal data and maintaining trust between researchers and participants. The purpose of this study is to map the state of the art report and future direction on the protection of privacy and confidentiality in the Social Science area using bibliometric characteristics. The present study has collected data from the Scopus database in social science literature using keywords of TITLE, "Privacy" or "Confidentiality" ", Personal Information" AND "disclose OR protection". The study identified the most prolific authors, collaborating countries, collaborating institutions and the impact of their output in terms of citations per paper (CPP). The retrieved data were analysed by RStudio software, and for visualizing purposes, VOS viewer and Tableau were used. The findings indicated that publications increased during the periods. Computer Law and Security Review are the most productive journal, while the USA is the most contributing country. Thematic evolution reflects heightened public awareness, regulatory developments, and technological advancements in data privacy. The risk assessment, mitigation, and management are key concerns in privacy and security research. As far as the authors are aware, there have not yet been any studies that use bibliometrics techniques to examine privacy and confidentiality in social science research within the given time frame.