A Bibliometric Analysis of Trust in Conversational Agents over the Past Fifteen Years

Conversational agents (CA) have become increasingly prevalent in various domains, driving significant interest in understanding the dynamics of ‘Trust in CA’. This study addresses the need for a comprehensive analysis of research trends in this field, especially given the rapid advancements and growing use of CA technologies like ChatGPT. Through bibliometric analysis, we aim to identify key keywords, disciplines, research clusters, and international collaborations related to CA and trust. We analyzed 955 studies published between 2009 and 2024, all sourced from the Scopus database. Additionally, we conducted a text clustering analysis to identify the main themes in the publications and understand their distribution. Our findings highlight the increasing interest in CA, particularly with the introduction of ChatGPT. The USA leads in research output, followed by Germany, China, and the UK. Furthermore, there is a notable rise in interdisciplinary research, especially in the fields of human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence.