A bibliometric analysis of the use of the Gamification Octalysis Framework in training: evidence from Web of Science

The article situates the Gamification Octalysis Framework as a prominent human-focused design approach for enhancing engagement and motivation in non-game contexts such as organizational training. Although gamification research has grown from basic to more advanced questions, persistent empirical and theoretical challenges remain, including establishing effectiveness and deriving design principles that consistently lead to positive outcomes. The authors argue that training is often redesigned with gamification elements (e.g., points, badges, leaderboards), but effectiveness depends on psychological significance, organizational support, and solid instructional design foundations. Within this context, the study aims to provide a comprehensive bibliometric characterization of Octalysis-based gamification research in training to guide researchers and practitioners. The specific research questions are: RQ1: What are the emerging trends in the Gamification Octalysis Framework in training during 2017–2023 (June)? RQ2: What are the most productive countries, authors, journals, and affiliations? RQ3: Which paper received the highest citations? RQ4: What are the most productive document types, research areas, and domains? RQ5: What are the most frequently used keywords in Gamification Octalysis Framework research?

The study contributes by focusing specifically on the Octalysis framework within training, a gap in prior organizational gamification research. It builds on work such as Costa et al. (2017) on gamification usage ecology and Riar et al. (2022) highlighting Octalysis as a prominent model. The review outlines foundational gamification definitions (Deterding et al., 2011; Marczewski, 2014) and emphasizes human-focused design and psychological underpinnings, including Self-Determination Theory. It details Chou’s Octalysis framework comprising eight core motivational drivers (epic meaning and calling; development and accomplishment; creative expression and feedback; ownership; social influence and relatedness; scarcity and impatience; unpredictability and curiosity; loss and avoidance) and maps example gamification elements and training applications to each driver. The review also discusses organizational training concepts and recent training trends (AI, personalized training, AR, experiential learning, microlearning, mobile learning, and gamification). Prior research notes that gamification outcomes vary by design quality and alignment with user preferences; points, badges, and leaderboards without coherent models can harm experiences. Practical mechanisms such as streaks, leaderboards, quizzes, and battles can leverage loss aversion and social influence to improve engagement. Overall, the literature establishes the relevance of Octalysis-guided design in training while underscoring the need for evidence-based implementations and systematic understanding of impacts.

The study employs a systematic literature review guided by PRISMA 2020 and a bibliometric analysis. Data were sourced from Clarivate Analytics Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection, focusing on items containing “training” and “Gamification Octalysis Framework” in the title, keywords, or abstract. Records were screened to exclude unrelated categories (notably medical), and duplicates were removed. The final dataset comprised 9 studies (records identified n=9; screened n=9; assessed for eligibility n=9; included n=9). Each publication was treated as a potential contribution to the field. Bibliometric analyses included citation analysis and keyword co-occurrence to identify influential works and conceptual structures. VOSviewer was used for network visualization of countries, institutions, authors, and keyword co-occurrences. Indicators covered languages, countries, institutions, publication year frequencies, main contributors and journals, research areas and domains, document types, keywords, author co-occurrence, and citation co-occurrence. Data cleaning involved standardizing capitalization, checking author initials, removing duplicates, and completing missing fields. The time span analyzed was 2017 to June 2023. Outputs included trend graphs, co-authorship and country maps, research area and domain distributions, document type distributions, keyword frequencies, productive sources, and citation summaries.

- Corpus and trend: The first relevant publication appeared in 2017; activity accelerated in 2022 with three publications, and interest continued into 2023 (June). - Productive countries: Portugal and the United States led with two publications each; other countries (e.g., Belarus, England, Estonia, Finland, Japan, Russia, South Korea) had one publication. - Productive affiliations and authors: Universidade de Coimbra (Portugal) was the most productive institution. The most productive authors were Araujo I and Carvalho AA, affiliated with Universidade de Coimbra. - Sources and document types: Most outputs were conference proceedings; document type distribution was Meetings 6 (67%) and Articles 3 (33%). Only two journals (Education Sciences and JMIR Serious Games, as noted in the narrative) were identified as productive venues; additional sources included IEEE Transactions on Games and major conference proceedings (e.g., ECEL, ILRN, ICCWS, CCWC). - Research areas and domains: By WoS categories, Computer Science had 6 records (66.667%), Education/Educational Research had 4 (44.444%), and Telecommunications had 1 (11.111%). By broader domains, Social Sciences had 6 publications (66.6%), Science Technology 5 (55.5%), and Technology 5 (55.5%). - Keywords: Most frequent were “Gamification” (5) and “Octalysis/Octalysis framework” (5), followed by Cyber Security (3), Awareness (2), Serious Games (2), Education (2), Teacher Training (2), and others including Game-Based Learning, Simulation, Maritime, Simulation for E-learning, Public Sector Capacity Building, Deep Learning, Digital tools, Andragogy (each 1). - Citations: The article “Enablers and Difficulties in the Implementation of Gamification: A Case Study with Teachers” was the most cited within this set. The narrative identifies “A Reusable Multiplayer Game for Promoting Active School Transport: Development Study” as the second most-read. Overall, the set showed limited citation activity (reported as four citations across eight articles), consistent with the field’s recent emergence in this niche. - Field emphasis: The analysis notes that 66.6% of cutting-edge research activity lies within Social Sciences compared to science and technology categories. - Practical emphasis: Findings suggest Octalysis-guided designs are increasingly explored in training contexts to enhance motivation, engagement, and performance.

The results indicate a clear growth trajectory for research on the Gamification Octalysis Framework in training, with a marked increase in 2022 and sustained interest in early 2023. Portugal and the United States emerged as leaders, likely aided by supportive research environments and institutional backing; Universidade de Coimbra is particularly prominent. The concentration of outputs in conference proceedings reflects an evolving and rapidly developing research front, with the literature still coalescing around common models and empirical validations. The most-cited and widely discussed works focus on implementing gamified teaching environments aligned with Octalysis, linking such designs to improved motivation. The authors contrast Octalysis-focused findings with broader gamification-training searches (e.g., “Gamification” AND “Training”), which would yield different country leaders (e.g., Spain for productivity, Turkey for citations). This emphasizes how framework-specific scoping changes bibliometric profiles. The discussion highlights disparities in adoption beyond Europe and calls for increased uptake in countries like Japan, the UK, South Africa, Finland, Estonia, and England, as well as emerging contexts such as India where awareness and correct understanding of gamification are still developing. Overall, the findings support Octalysis as a useful lens for designing training interventions but also reinforce that success depends on aligning game elements to motivational drivers and organizational conditions.

This bibliometric study maps the evolution of Octalysis-based gamification research in training from 2017 to June 2023 using WoS data. It documents accelerating interest, particularly in 2022, identifies leading contributors (notably Portugal and the United States, and Universidade de Coimbra), and surfaces core themes, venues, and keywords shaping the field. The study underscores the need for broader geographic engagement and institutional support outside Europe, recommending that countries integrate Octalysis-guided training in educational and organizational programs, establish research centers, and develop journals devoted to this area. The findings provide a foundation for empirical work on Octalysis-informed training designs and inform policy and institutional strategies to expand research capacity. Future work should broaden data sources beyond WoS, extend temporal coverage, and compare Octalysis-informed approaches with non- framework gamification training to assess relative productivity and impact.

The analysis is limited to the Web of Science Core Collection and to publications through June 2023. The scope focuses specifically on the application of the Gamification Octalysis Framework in training and includes selected document types (articles, proceedings, reviews, book chapters). As a result, outputs indexed in other databases (e.g., Scopus) or outside the defined scope may be omitted. The field’s recency and the prevalence of conference proceedings contribute to low citation counts, limiting inferences about long-term impact. Future studies should include additional databases, broaden the time window, and compare Octalysis-specific implementations with general gamification training to assess differences in productivity and quality.