A 5 Year Bibliometric Review of Programming Language Research Dynamics in Southeast Asia (2018-2023)

Aims: To conduct a systematic examination and bibliometric analysis of Scopus-indexed literature focusing on emerging trends in programming languages research within Southeast Asia.

Study Design: This study employs a mixed method approach, incorporating both qualitative and bibliometric analysis.

Place and Duration of Study: Publication data for review was obtained from the Scopus database, covering the period from 2018 to 2023, with a specific focus on the progress in programming language and semantics research within ASEAN countries.

Methodology: We used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) protocol to collect publication data. Bibliometric data was visualized through Biblioshiny and VOSviewer.

Results: From 2018 to 2023, the research production involving programming languages and semantics across ASEAN countries has been strong, yielding a total of 233 documents from 160 unique sources. However, the annual growth rate was at -10.87%. There was a total of 882 authors with only 10 sole authors in the field. 46.78% of the documents had international co-authorship with an average of 4.03 authors per document. The literature spanned across 764 unique author keywords and 7424 citations with an average of 11.12 citations per document.

Conclusion: Southeast Asia has a rich and collaborative research space in the field of Programming Languages but it faces several barriers such as the absence of a unified research agenda, the lack of adequate funding, and the relatively weak industrial base.