Machine learning-based book recommender system: a survey and new perspectives

The exponential growth of recommender systems research has drawn the attention of the scientific community recently. These systems are very useful in reducing information overload and providing users with the items of their need. The major areas where recommender systems have contributed significantly include e-commerce, online auction, and books and conference recommendation for academia and industrialists. Book recommender systems suggest books of interest to users according to their preferences and requirements. In this article, we have surveyed machine learning techniques which have been used in book recommender systems. Moreover, evaluation metrics applied to evaluate recommendation techniques is also studied. Six categories for book recommendation techniques have been identified and discussed which would enable the scientific community to lay a foundation of research in the concerned field. We have also proposed future perspectives to improve recommender system. We hope that researchers exploring recommendation technology in general and book recommendation in particular will be finding this work highly beneficial.