A Looking Glass into a Research Wonderland: 40 Years of Virtual Reality Scholarship Explicated via Natural Language Processing

How has the field of Virtual Reality (VR) evolved and what type of research has made an impact? We used natural language processing techniques and generative Artificial Intelligence to develop the most complete review of VR research to date (1984-2024). Among 196,734 paper abstracts, 13 reliable themes emerged over time, with immersive experiences receiving the most recent attention, and papers with statistically significant findings having the most impact. Interdisciplinary teams were cited more than less interdisciplinary teams, and watershed moments like mainstream industry embracing VR (i.e., Google Cardboard’s release) modified scholars’ research focus. Research topics were heterogeneous across authors’ regions of the world and academic fields. Papers in communication science had more interdisciplinary teams and focused more on immersive experiences than papers in other social scientific and non-social scientific fields. Our database — the VRbalARchive — is publicly available, helping scholars investigate VR’s history and enhancing our theoretical understanding of the medium.