A Scientometric Study of Usability and User Experience Evaluation: Evolution, Context and Trends

Usability and user experience (UX) evaluation frameworks are well established within human–computer interaction and human factors research, yet they are typically applied as general-purpose models that do not fully capture the specific cognitive and perceptual demands of open data visualization systems (ODVS), such as visual reasoning and sense-making. This study examines the evolution of usability and UX evaluation research to identify dominant methods and emerging trends informing future methodological developments for this domain. A scientometric analysis used bibliographic metadata from Scopus, applying a structured search combining usability, UX and evaluation-related terms to titles and author keywords for publications from 1982 to early 2025. After manual screening, 9346 documents were analyzed through bibliometric indicators and keyword co-occurrence techniques using Tableau Public (2025.2) and VOSviewer 1.6.20. The analysis reveals sustained growth in usability and UX evaluation research: while the System Usability Scale and heuristic evaluation remain central, empirical and technology-assisted approaches have gained relevance, alongside increased attention to accessibility, human factors, and complex interactive systems. These findings expose limitations in existing evaluation models when applied to ODVS and support adapting current frameworks or developing complementary attributes addressing the human factors specific to data interpretation and sense-making.