A Bibliometric Analysis of Metaheuristic Research and Its Applications

Metaheuristic algorithms are generic optimization tools to solve complex problems with extensive search spaces. This algorithm minimizes the size of the search space by using effective search strategies. Research on metaheuristic algorithms continues to grow and is widely applied to solve big data problems. This study aims to provide an analysis of the performance of metaheuristic research and to map a description of the themes of the metaheuristic research method. Using bibliometric analysis, we examined the performance of scientific articles and described the available opportunities for metaheuristic research methods. This study presents the performance analysis and bibliometric review of metaheuristic research documents indexed in the Scopus database between the period of 2016-2021. The overall number of papers published at the global level was 3846. At global optimization, heuristic methods, scheduling, genetic algorithms, evolutionary algorithms, and benchmarking dominate metaheuristic research. Meanwhile, the discussion on adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference, forecasting, feature selection, biomimetics, exploration, and exploitation, are growing hot issues for research in this field. The current research reveals a unique overview of metaheuristic research at the global level from 2016-2021, and this could be valuable for conducting future research.