Migration and Socio-economic Changes in India: A Systematic Review and Bibliometric Mapping

Abstract

Research on migration and socio-economic change in India has expanded rapidly but remains dispersed across disciplines, methods, and regional case studies. This review maps the field’s intellectual and conceptual landscape and synthesises what is established, contested, and insufficiently examined. A convergent mixed-methods systematic review combined performance analysis and science mapping of 153 open-access, peer-reviewed documents published during 2000–2026 in the Bibliometrix/Biblioshiny environment with a structured thematic synthesis of 148 full-text articles. Reporting followed the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Publication output was limited before 2014, increased sharply after 2019, and peaked in 2023, suggesting a possible transition towards consolidation. Authorship was highly dispersed (Lotka \(\beta\) = 3.82), while 14 core sources formed the field’s principal publication base. Bibliometric mapping and thematic synthesis converged on five domains: environmental distress and survival mobility; the migration–development and remittance nexus; left-behind households and the feminisation of agriculture; migrant precarity and statistical invisibility; and transnational diasporic identity. Across these domains, circular and female migrants were frequently underrepresented in official statistics. By integrating quantitative science mapping with qualitative synthesis, the review provides a structured account of the field’s development, intellectual organisation, and unresolved debates. It also identifies priorities for longitudinal, intersectional, and spatially explicit research capable of addressing persistent data and evidence gaps.