How Multidisciplinary Is Gamification Research: Results from a Scoping Review

This scoping review investigates the extent to which gamification has evolved into a multidisciplinary research field. By analyzing 1,984 peer-reviewed English-language journal and conference papers published between 2010 and 2016, the study maps the growth and disciplinary distribution of gamification literature. The methodology adheres to PRISMA guidelines, utilizing eleven academic databases and a classification system based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC) to categorize findings into ten distinct disciplinary areas.

The data reveals an exponential increase in research output, which peaked in 2015. Initially, the field was dominated by Information and Computing Science (IT/CS), which accounted for the majority of publications between 2010 and 2014. However, a significant shift occurred in 2015 and 2016, as other disciplines—most notably education, economics, management, and medical sciences—began to represent the majority of new research. Across the entire period, IT/CS remained the largest single category at 37%, followed by education at 29%. Games and digital entertainment research comprised only 10% of the total, suggesting that gamification is not primarily an extension of traditional game studies but rather a broader application-driven phenomenon.

The findings conclude that while gamification originated as a niche within computer science and human-computer interaction, it has successfully transitioned into a truly multidisciplinary field. This maturation is further evidenced by a steady increase in the proportion of journal articles relative to conference proceedings. The authors note that the relative scarcity of humanities and social science research in the sample may be a methodological artifact of excluding books and book chapters, which are common publication formats in those disciplines. Future research is expected to focus on the qualitative aspects of these studies, including specific game design elements and empirical methodologies.