Job rotation: A bibliometric analysis

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Job rotation is a strategic practice aimed at improving employees' health, satisfaction, and overall productivity in organizations. Its ergonomic aspects are crucial because they help balance workload, reduce ergonomic risks, and support an aging workforce. OBJECTIVE: This study addresses the lack of a field-level synthesis of job rotation research by conducting a bibliometric analysis of publications from 1994 through 2025, with particular attention to ergonomic themes, trends, and relationships in the literature. METHODS: A bibliometric analysis was conducted using 820 records retrieved from Scopus. VOSviewer was used to examine keyword co-occurrence, country co-authorship, author bibliographic coupling, title-and-abstract term co-occurrence, and author co-citation networks. RESULTS: The analysis shows rapid growth in the literature on job rotation and its critical components. The visualizations show the evolution of research topics and their interrelationships. The mapped literature emphasizes ergonomic and organizational themes including workload balancing, musculoskeletal risk, work design, scheduling, worker well-being, and job satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: The study underlines the increasing emphasis on the ergonomic and organizational benefits of job rotation. It proposes conducting further research to address existing gaps and promote employee well-being and productivity through effective job rotation strategies.