One Size Does Not Fit All: Global Trends in Personalised Gamification Research

The rise of personalised gamification has gained more attention as researchers begin to realise that a one-size-fits-all approach is not necessarily effective, especially when the user has different characteristics, motivations, and preferences. Hence, this study aims to map the global contributions, citation impact, and emerging research directions in personalised gamification research. Using performance indicators and science mapping techniques, publications that were retrieved from Scopus between 2016 and 2026 were used as the bibliographic data. To conduct bibliographic coupling, author-keyword co-occurrence, and overlay visualisation, VOSviewer 1.6.20 was employed, while publication output, country productivity, and citation counts were examined descriptively. Publications activity increased evidently after 2022 and peaked in 2025, showing that academic interest in personalised and adaptive gamification systems is growing. The most productive country was the United States, followed by China, Spain, and India, indicating strong contributions from North America, Europe, and Asia. Klock et al. (2020) emerged as the most highly cited publication, confirming the influence of research on tailored gamification and user-modelling. Based on keyword co-occurrence analysis, five dominant thematic clusters were identified: Digital Learning Innovation and Analytics, Gamification Design and User Characteristics, AI-Driven Adaptive Learning, Player-Type-Based Motivational Tailoring, and Personalisation and User Modelling. Recent themes involving artificial intelligence, learning analytics, self-determination theory, student engagement, and tailored gamification were indicated by the overlay analysis. The study reveals that personalised gamification is evolving towards more intelligent, theoretically grounded, and data-driven forms of adaptation. Future research should prioritise empirical testing of how personalised game elements drive motivation, engagement, and performance across diverse contexts.

Bibliometric analysis, personalised gamification, gamification, research trends

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