A Review on Return Migration: Systematic Review and Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Return Migration has been recognized as a critical part of development and is a much-debated topic in the globalized world. As a result, Scholars were particularly enthusiastic about return migration and thus, this study summarizes and synthesizes empirical research papers on return migration from 2000 – 2024. Systematic Literature Review and PRISMA guidelines were employed to achieve the primary objective of this study. Following seven inclusion criteria, 1697 research papers published during 2000 – 2024 were obtained from Lens.org and Google Scholar, of which 467 papers were considered for review. In addition, Biblioshiny and VOSviewer-based Keyword Co-Occurrence Analysis was used to analyze the content and structure of papers. Accordingly, Keywords Co-occurrence Overlay Visualization results depict a strong relationship between Return Migration and Migration. Further keywords such as Diaspora, Gender, Ethnicity, Transnationalism, Development, and Entrepreneurship denote their strong relationship with the Return Migration. Moreover, Density visualization map denotes that keywords such as entrepreneurship, circular migration, and developing countries appear less frequently and have garnered less attention compared to return migration. Apart from that, the study found 12 themes, they are; Return Migration, Dimensions of Return Migration, Wellbeing and Migration, Entrepreneurial Reintegration, Youth migration, Government Policies on Migration, Migration and Development, Extreme Ends of Migration, Skilled Migration, Age and Migration, Family Dynamics, Economic benefit of Remittances. The findings of this research highlighted that the researcher identified a few studies on certain areas related to return migration. Especially on entrepreneurship, circular migration, developing countries, and transnationalism. This study considered only papers that were downloaded from two databases. This study aids legislators, corporations, and academics in developing enhanced approaches, innovations, and service advancements.