Mobile Dependency in Higher Education: A Bibliometric Mapping of Nomophobia and Related Constructs Among University Students

Abstract

Mobile dependency is used as an umbrella term for constructs: nomophobia, smartphone addiction, mobile phone addiction, and problematic smartphone use. These constructs share a behavioral core of anxious, compulsive device engagement and are operationalized with overlapping instruments; the rationale for reviewing them jointly is set out in the Introduction. Research has grown over the past decade, yet it has developed in isolation from educational innovation, learning-technology scholarship, digital pedagogy, and educational design. This gap is notable because mobile devices are central to teaching, assessment, and student engagement in higher education. Understanding dependency patterns should inform curriculum and learning-platform design, individual-level intervention and institutional planning. This study presents a bibliometric review of 815 Scopus-indexed journal articles on mobile dependency among university students, published between 2019 and 2025 and screened under the PRISMA 2020 protocol. Performance analysis and science mapping, including keyword co-occurrence, thematic mapping, and conceptual structure analysis, traced publication trends, influential contributors, and the intellectual structure of the field. Annual output nearly quadrupled from 43 articles in 2019 to 165 in 2025. This growth coincided with the shift toward remote/hybrid education during COVID-19, although bibliometric evidence cannot establish causality. Thematic mapping shows that the field remains anchored in an individual-deficit tradition, with limited integration of learning design, educational technology, or digital pedagogy, a gap not addressed by prior bibliometric reviews. The review proposes a research agenda repositioning mobile dependency as an educational innovation challenge, with implications for curriculum design, learning management system governance, and institutional strategy for student digital wellbeing.