Geotechnical Geotechnical engineering has evolved into an increasingly diverse and multidisciplinary field, yet a comprehensive, data-driven mapping of its global publication trends, collaboration networks, and emerging research themes as an integrated discipline remains limited. This study aims to (1) analyze global publication trends and scientific developments in geotechnical engineering, (2) identify collaboration networks among countries, institutions, and authors, and (3) examine emerging topics and future research directions through bibliometric visualization. A bibliometric review was conducted on 245 Scopus-indexed publications (2016–2026), selected through a PRISMA-based screening process and analyzed using VOSviewer and Bibliometrix-R. The results show a consistent growth in publications, with a sharp acceleration during 2023–2025, driven by three dominant thematic clusters: artificial intelligence and digitalization, bio-based and sustainable geotechnics, and energy geotechnics. Collaboration network analysis reveals that China (35 publications) and the United States (33 publications) lead global output, followed by Australia, the United Kingdom, and Brazil, while developing regions, including Southeast Asia, Africa, and most of Latin America, remain underrepresented. Author-level analysis identifies Phoon, K.-K. as the most productive and influential researcher, reflecting a pronounced Matthew effect within the field. Keyword co-occurrence, overlay, and density visualizations further confirm that artificial intelligence and data-centric approaches represent the most rapidly accelerating research frontier, while sustainable geotechnics remains a stable, well-established research stream. These findings provide a comprehensive evidence base for guiding future research agendas, strengthening international collaboration, and directing geotechnical innovation toward more sustainable and technologically advanced solutions.