A growing body of research centers around the concept of “datafication” suggesting a buzz around data studies and, perhaps, the emergence of a research field. This article analyzes and discusses the current state of datafication research. Our dataset comprises 463 publications on datafication identified through a systematic literature search in Web of Science and Scopus, an explorative network analysis of keyword co-occurrences and a content analysis of these publications. We map datafication research interests in various research fields, find that the majority of studies are theoretically oriented, whereas empirical analyses largely apply qualitative approaches and rarely make use of data-driven methods. We suggest studies on datafication can be devised into categories reflecting research interests in either user understandings and practices or in infrastructure and technological processes of datafication. The latter strand is particularly sparse in empirical anchoring, and needs empirical and methodological attention. We conclude by outlining three paths for future datafication research to cross-pollinate infrastructural and user perspectives, highlighting the bridging role of communication research in such an endeavor.

越来越多的研究围绕着“数据化”的概念展开，这表明数据研究和研究领域的出现引起了轰动。本文分析和讨论了数据化研究的现状。我们的数据集包含 463 篇关于数据化的出版物，这些出版物通过在 Web of Science 和 Scopus 中进行系统性文献搜索、关键字共现的探索性网络分析以及这些出版物的内容分析来确定。我们映射了各个研究领域的数据化研究兴趣，发现大多数研究以理论为导向，而实证分析主要采用定性方法，很少使用数据驱动方法。我们建议对数据化的研究可以设计成反映用户理解和实践或数据化的基础设施和技术过程中的研究兴趣的类别。后一条链在经验锚定方面特别稀少，需要经验和方法论的关注。最后，我们概述了未来数据化研究的三个途径，以交叉影响基础设施和用户的观点，强调传播研究在这种努力中的桥梁作用。