<![CDATA[Purpose – This research compares publication trends, citation patterns, scientific productivity, and thematic structures in digital surveillance and academic social networking research, while examining how structurally similar data-driven infrastructures generate largely involuntary surveillance but strategically pursued academic visibility. Design/method/approach – Bibliographic data covering sixteen publication years (2010–2025) were retrieved from Scopus through searches of titles, abstracts, and keywords, yielding 2,595 digital surveillance documents and 4,975 academic social networking documents. Scopus Analyze Results, Bibliometrix/Biblioshiny, and VOSviewer were used to assess scientific performance, map thematic structures, and identify keyword co-occurrence patterns. Findings – Digital surveillance publications increased from 46 documents in 2010 to 424 documents in 2025, while academic social networking publications increased from 16 to 995 documents. The United States leads in digital surveillance research with around 770 documents, while India leads in academic social networking research with 729 documents. The theme of digital surveillance centers on datafication, privacy, COVID-19, public health, and artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, academic social networking focuses on ResearchGate, Mendeley, social media, altmetrics, publications, and citations. Implications/limitations of the research – Findings are limited by reliance on a single database, inclusion of English-language documents only, the specific search terms selected, and differing citation windows across publication years, which affect citation-based comparisons. Originality/value – This research maps two previously separate fields within a single comparative framework and interprets visibility and surveillance as a continuum within data-driven information ecosystems, rather than as opposing phenomena.]]>
Copyrights © 2026
