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Exploring Sixty-Two Years of Research on Immigrants’ Integration Using Structural Topic Modeling-Based Bibliometric Analysis

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Abstract

The research on immigrant integration is a dynamic interdisciplinary domain with rich and diverse literature. Considering the numerous studies in this domain, it is valuable to provide a comprehensive mapping to understand the research landscape resource and facilitate collaborations. This article combines Structural Topic modeling with bibliometric analysis to identify key research topics on immigrant integration. Applying these methods to 70890 abstracts published between 1960 and 2022, we identified 30 key research topics. We also tracked their prevalence over time, correlations and distributions within institutions and countries, funding effects, and countries’ collaborations. The results indicate that the most discussed topics are integration theory, economic integration, education, residential segregation, integration policy, language, religious diversity, cultural participation, identity & belonging, racism & discrimination, political participation, health & welfare, research methods, demographic issues, gender & violence. Moreover, some of these topics were highly prominent in earlier periods and nearly non-existent in later years, while others emerged only recently. Specific topics maintained consistent significance over time. Analyses of correlations and trends reveal clusters of topics and diverse distributions across countries and research institutions. The implications of these results can benefit researchers, helping them better understand the current state of research and design future research projects. The finding could also help stakeholders in migration and integration governance and funding agencies to guide policies regarding the integration of immigrants.

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Data Availability

The data used in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

Notes

  1. Defined as the probability for a set of words in topics to coexist in the same document.

  2. Defined as the probability for a word to appear primarily in the top rankings of a single topic.

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  1. Department of Demography, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3J7, Canada

    Robert Djogbenou & Solène Lardoux

  2. Department of Sociology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Québec, H2L 2C4, Canada

    Vissého Adjiwanou

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Djogbenou, R., Adjiwanou, V. & Lardoux, S. Exploring Sixty-Two Years of Research on Immigrants’ Integration Using Structural Topic Modeling-Based Bibliometric Analysis. Int. Migration & Integration 25, 1797–1824 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-024-01139-8

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