Conceptual Modeling: Topics, Themes, and Technology Trends
Despite rapid technological advances, the enduring value and evolutionary trajectory of conceptual modeling in digital-era information systems development remain inadequately understood. Method: Leveraging a corpus of 5,300+ multidisciplinary publications (1970–2023) from 35 journals/conferences, we conduct bibliometric analysis, LDA topic modeling, and temporal trend mining—delivering the first large-scale, cross-temporal, cross-disciplinary quantitative study of conceptual modeling evolution. Contribution/Results: We identify seven dominant modeling themes and their lifecycle patterns, pinpointing three major technology-driven inflection points (Web, Big Data, AI), and empirically confirm the paradigm’s robustness and adaptability. Contrary to assumptions of obsolescence, conceptual modeling remains foundational—enabling trustworthiness in AI, digital twins, and sustainable digital systems. We propose three new research directions: semantic interpretability, dynamic evolutionary capability, and human-AI collaborative trustworthiness.