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Bibliometric Mapping of Scientific Production and Conceptual Structure of Cyber Sextortion in Cybersecurity

Fani Moses Radebe ; Kennedy Njenga (2024) — Social Sciences

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DOI: 10.3390/socsci14010012 (opens in a new tab)

Country:   Global
Tags:   Adolescents, Bibliometric Analysis, Coercive Sexting, Cyber Sextortion, Cybersecurity, Digital Resilience, Online Dating, Romance Scams
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Synopsis

            
This publication presents a neutral, source-grounded synopsis of a bibliometric study on cyber sextortion in cybersecurity. Its stated purpose is to map how research on cyber sextortion has progressed over time, focusing on scientific production, thematic developments, authorship contributions, and potential future directions. The study analyzes 548 Scopus-indexed documents—journal articles, conference papers, and book chapters—spanning 2008 to the third quarter of 2024, using bibliometric mapping with the R-based bibliometrix tool and Biblioshiny interface. The authors acknowledge limitations from relying on a single database. Key findings describe a growth trajectory in cyber sextortion research, with themes including online child sexual abuse, adolescents, mental health, dating violence, and romance fraud. The analysis highlights that cyber sextortion is being examined across multiple contexts, including digital forensics and education policy, and notes emerging regional contributions from Africa, notably South Africa and Ghana. The study identifies several prolific scholars and institutions, with Cassandra Cross (Australia), Monica Whitty (UK), Bianca Klettke (Australia), Dominika Howard (Australia), and Joris Van Ouytsel (Belgium) among the most influential, based on publication and citation patterns. Collaboration networks across countries and researchers are described as increasing, suggesting a move toward multidisciplinary engagement. The authors discuss implications and limitations, advocating for broader, cross-regional collaboration and multidisciplinary work involving fields such as cyberbullying, digital forensics, and machine learning. They emphasize a need to expand upon adolescent resilience and prevention, while cautioning that conclusions are constrained by the single-source dataset. The overall tone presents cyber sextortion as a growing, complex field with potential for more integrated, preventive research and policy-oriented work.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
The paper identifies limited empirical cyber sextortion research, inconsistent definitions, and insufficient knowledge about sextortion arising from romance fraud. It reports a lack of evidence on African adolescents' susceptibility, digital resilience, and evidence-based mental-health interventions. It also identifies underexplored themes across regions, including romance fraud, online dating, mental health, gender, image-based sexual violence, fraud, and victims.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
The study conducted a bibliometric mapping analysis of 548 English-language Scopus records (journal articles, conference papers, and book chapters) from 2008 through the third quarter of 2024. Records were retrieved using search strings for technology-facilitated sextortion, dating and romance fraud, and coercive sexting. The authors used Bibliometrix R package version 4.4.0 and Biblioshiny to analyze publication growth, citations, authors, institutions, countries, collaborations, keywords, co-occurrence networks, and thematic maps.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
The dataset was drawn only from Scopus because the software did not support merging data from independent databases. The authors acknowledge resulting single-source limitations and potential language bias. The analysis is bibliometric: it maps publication metadata and keyword patterns rather than directly measuring victim experiences, prevalence, or intervention effectiveness.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
Future research should examine adolescents' digital resilience across sextortion, coercive sexting, dating violence, and mental health; develop and evaluate resilience-based interventions; identify traits and contextual factors that support resistance to online risks; conduct cross-age studies of adults and adolescents; expand underexplored themes and regions; and use multidisciplinary, institutional, and interagency collaboration.

          

              

    
    

        
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