A Historical Review and Theoretical Mapping on Short Video Studies 2005–2021

Abstract The popularity of TikTok has sparked short video studies in global academia. Whereas in China, the market for short video platforms is already matured, which has seen numerous research publications. However, an overall review of short video research is still absent. Using the methods of science mapping and thematic analysis, we summarized the research and review articles from Web of Science Core Collection and CNKI (CSSCI and CSCD) from the past two decades. The main findings are: 1) There are four main stages in the development of short video studies and each of them is tightly related to the market growth; 2) Four main perspectives (media, economic, cultural and discursive) of short video studies with 12 clusters of core issues have emerged, and the visibility that short videos bring to ordinary people is the fundamental viewpoint of many studies; 3) Currently, the short video studies are going broader and deeper, attracting scholars from different academic backgrounds, and multiple methods are applied in the studies; 4) The papers from WoS and CNKI share some similarities but show more differences in the research issues, subjects and methods. We pointed out the limitations of present studies and possibilities of future research.