Chinese Researchers in the Journal of Travel Research (2011–2016): A Content Analysis

This research aims to identify the recent research trends of Chinese scholarship in tourism. In this study, a systematic review of articles from the Journal of Travel Research from 2011 to 2016 is conducted. A content analysis is also conducted on the five major aspects of the articles, namely, the publication trend, important scholars and their collaboration, knowledge base of the studies, most influential research and, most importantly, the major research themes. The findings affirm a growing trend of Chinese scholarship in tourism, an imbalanced distribution of Chinese scholars and their cooperation with each other, top tier journals as the knowledge base, eTourism’s prominence in influential studies, and five major research areas. Finally, implications for future studies are presented.