Mapping the global cybersecurity policy landscape: trends, themes and knowledge sources

Cybersecurity has become a critical governance priority, yet no large-scale analysis of global cybersecurity policy evolution exists. This study examines 14,302 policy documents from 110 countries and international organisations, drawn from the Overton database and covering 1967–2025. The corpus reflects the wider landscape of cybersecurity governance discourse, including national strategies, regulatory frameworks, government reports, policy briefs and guidance documents from public, private and third-sector institutions, rather than formal government instruments alone. The findings show marked growth since 2010, with annual documents rising from 168 to over 1,500. Public-sector organisations dominate policy production (85%) and the United States accounts for 42% of all documents. Topic analysis shows a shift from narrow technical concerns to comprehensive governance frameworks, with foundational topics such as computer security remaining relevant alongside newer issues such as artificial intelligence and data protection. Among documents that cite indexed scholarly literature, analysis of 4,228 cited sources reveals a multidisciplinary knowledge base spanning computer science (18.9%), economics (11.1%), international relations (10.6%) and political science (9.6%). Knowledge production is nonetheless geographically concentrated, with the United States contributing 47.8% of cited research. The study offers one of the first large-scale mappings of global cybersecurity policy evolution.