From Telephones to AI: A Seventy-Year Bibliometric Analysis of Emergency Call System Research

Edita Carmen Bokor, Manuel Victoraș Stănilă, Mihail Bărănescu and Madlena Nen
Additional contact information
Edita Carmen Bokor: Bucharest University of Economic Studies
Manuel Victoraș Stănilă: Bucharest University of Economic Studies
Mihail Bărănescu: 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia
Madlena Nen: Bucharest University of Economic Studies

Technium Social Sciences Journal, 2026, vol. 79, issue 1, 256-267

Abstract: Emergency call systems (ECS) play a vital role in public safety, crisis management, and the organization of emergency response services. Over the last seven decades, these systems have evolved from simple telephone-based communication into complex, digital, and data-driven infrastructures integrating geolocation technologies, artificial intelligence, and multimodal communication. Despite their growing societal relevance, ECS research has not yet been examined through a comprehensive long-term scientific perspective. This study provides a bibliometric and science-mapping analysis of ECS literature published between 1952 and 2025, aiming to identify major research trends, collaboration patterns, and thematic shifts within the field, with particular attention to issues of accessibility and social inclusion. Publications indexed in Scopus and Web of Science were systematically analyzed using descriptive indicators and network-based techniques implemented through the Bibliometrix package in R (version 4.4.0) and VOSviewer. The results show a steady increase in ECS-related research, with accelerated growth after 2010 corresponding to advances in digitalization and intelligent communication technologies. Research output is concentrated primarily in high-income countries and focuses largely on operational efficiency, clinical response, and emergency communication infrastructures. Thematic evolution reveals a transition from early concerns with dispatch organization and response times toward more recent emphases on interoperability, system resilience, and intelligent emergency services. However, accessibility and inclusion, particularly concerning persons with disabilities—remain marginal within the literature, representing only a small fraction of published research. These findings indicate that while ECS research has developed into a multidisciplinary domain spanning public management, health systems, and information technologies, greater attention is required to address social equity, user diversity, and inclusive service design. The study contributes a structured overview of the field’s evolution and highlights future research directions relevant to policymakers, emergency service managers, and scholars concerned with the social dimensions of emergency communication systems.

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://techniumscience.com/index.php/socialsciences/article/view/13428 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tec:journl:ojs:13428

DOI: 10.47577/tssj.v79i1.13428

Access Statistics for this article

Technium Social Sciences Journal is currently edited by Tasente Tanase

More articles in Technium Social Sciences Journal from Technium Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tasente Tanase ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).