Mapping Global Research Trends in Career AdaptabilityAnd Career Development: A Bibliometric SynthesisOf Two Decades of Scholarship

This study provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of global research trends in career adaptability and career development over the ‎last twenty years. Using peer-reviewed publications indexed in major academic databases, the analysis maps the field's intellectual structure, ‎thematic changes, and geographic distribution. Using performance analysis and science-mapping techniques, the study identifies influential ‎authors, institutions, and journals, as well as the most-cited theories and frameworks. The results show that Western scholars primarily ‎shape the global conversation, while contributions from the Asia–Pacific region remain relatively limited, despite the region’s diverse and ‎rapidly changing labor markets. The thematic evolution reveals a shift from fundamental career development theories to current focuses on ‎employability, resilience, and adaptability, driven by technological advances and economic instability. It also highlights emerging research ‎clusters in proactive career behaviors, psychological resources, and lifelong learning. This review highlights the importance of fostering ‎increased cross-cultural and cross-regional collaboration to enhance both theoretical inclusivity and practical relevance. In the Asia-Pacific ‎region, the findings suggest opportunities to adapt career models to align with collectivist values, family influences, and specific labor-‎market conditions. The study enriches the literature by offering a data-driven overview of the field’s development, uncovering knowledge ‎gaps, and suggesting future research paths to create more inclusive, culturally relevant, and globally applicable frameworks for career adapt-‎ability and development‎.