As a subfield of public relations, global public relations has grown significantly over the past three decades. However, the state of knowledge about its structure and evolution remains unexplored. Who are the key players and what are the key works in the global public relations literature? Which primary research topics have been investigated over time? This study answers these questions by using bibliometric methods to examine published articles in scholarly global public relations research from 1983 to 2019. A total of 35,982 citations from 521 articles permit us to conclude that the field of global public relations has experienced exponential growth, especially during the last decade. Public Relations Review has been the primary outlet for publishing articles on global public relations. The topics of interest during this period can be generally categorized into three groups: culture or cultural dimensions of global public relations, application of public relations theories (e.g., Excellence Theory) and perspectives to other countries, and the introduction of public relations in other countries. The topic of public relations roles appeared in research only in 2000−2009, while public diplomacy emerged as a new theme in the literature in 2010−2019.

作为公共关系的一个子领域，全球公共关系在过去的三十年中取得了长足的发展。但是，关于其结构和演化的知识状态仍待探索。谁是关键人物，全球公共关系文献中的关键作品是什么？随着时间的推移，对哪些主要研究主题进行了研究？这项研究通过使用文献计量法来审查1983年至2019年全球学术研究领域中的已发表文章来回答这些问题。从521篇文章中总共引用了35,982次引用，我们可以得出这样的结论：全球公共关系领域经历了指数级增长，尤其是在最近十年。公共关系评论一直是发表有关全球公共关系文章的主要渠道。在此期间，感兴趣的主题通常可以分为三类：全球公共关系的文化或文化维度，公共关系理论（例如，卓越理论）的应用和对其他国家的看法以及在其他国家中引入公共关系。公共关系角色的话题仅在2000-2009年才出现在研究中，而公共外交则在2010-2019年成为文学中的新主题。