Exploring the Application Sphere of the Internet of Things in Industry 4.0: A Review, Bibliometric and Content Analysis

This paper aims to comprehensively review 891 documents in the Scopus database about Internet of Things (IoT) in Ind 4.0 to understand the historical growth, current state, and potential expansion trend. From 2014 to 2020, a systematic methodology gathered information on IoT in Ind 4.0 documents in various Scopus databases. The relevant IoT research in Ind 4.0 documents is provided, and their types, publications, citations, and predictions are discussed. The VOSviewer 1.16.6 and Biblioshiny 2.0 applications display IoT status in Ind 4.0 publications for visualization research. The citation review aims to find the most prominent and influential authors, sources, papers, countries, and organizations. For citation analysis and ranking, document selection criteria were well defined. The author keywords, index keywords, and text data content analysis were used to identify the hotspots and development trends. The yearly IoT in Ind 4.0 article publications presented a speedily increasing trend, and a curve was fitted employing an exponential function. The paper “Intelligent manufacturing in the context of Industry 4.0: a review” was rated first with 754 citations. With 1629 citations, the “International Journal of Production Research” was ranked #1 along with Wan J. The South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, China, was placed first along with the United States as the most prolific and influential country. ‘Industry 4.0’ appeared the first time in 2014 with an application of IoT in Ind 4.0 with an overall appearance of 528, followed by the ‘internet of things’ in 2015, three times with a total count of 220 up to 2020. The IoT in Ind 4.0 assessment and bibliometric analysis intended to provide intellectuals a broad perspective working in IoT in Ind 4.0. Scholars should understand the hotspots in this area as soon as possible. This is also the first paper to thoroughly use bibliometric research to examine the IoT in Ind 4.0 literature. It will assist researchers of IoT in Ind 4.0 in expanding their knowledge and quickly comprehending the development status and pattern.