Mapping The Intellectual Landscape of Borneo, Brunei and Sulu: A Three Decade Bibliometric Synthesis of Historical Research

Abstract

This study offers the first comprehensive bibliometric mapping of historical scholarship on Borneo, Brunei, and the Sulu region over the past three decades. Using a rigorously curated dataset of 298 publications indexed in Scopus and Web of Science, the analysis applies ScientoPy to examine publication trends, document types, prolific source titles, dominant research themes, conceptual models, institutional contributions, and highly cited works. The findings reveal a clear maturation of the field, with modest and sporadic output in the 1990s giving way to sustained growth from the mid-2000s and a marked acceleration after 2012, reflecting increasing international engagement and interdisciplinary integration. Peer-reviewed journal articles dominate the corpus, indicating a strong orientation toward high-impact scholarly dissemination. Key publication venues include the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Quaternary Science Reviews, and JEBAT, which collectively anchor historical, archaeological, and interdisciplinary research on the region. Thematic analysis demonstrates a shift from descriptive, locality-focused narratives toward broader approaches encompassing prehistoric human mobility, colonial and imperial encounters, environmental governance, maritime networks, and transboundary regional histories. Despite this diversification, the limited application of explicit theoretical frameworks illustrated by the marginal presence of the Bayanihan model highlights an underdeveloped dimension of conceptual engagement. Overall, this study provides a systematic overview of the intellectual structure and evolution of Borneo-Brunei-Sulu historiography and identifies critical gaps and future directions for advancing high-impact, interdisciplinary historical research in Island Southeast Asia.