This paper examines the scientific research on return migration published over the past five decades using Scopus databases. The research aims to uncover the prevailing and emerging themes associated with return migration. A bibliometric framework is utilised to assess how academic attention toward return migration has evolved over time. It analyses the co-occurrence of keywords and bibliographic coupling using a dataset of 375 articles. The results are depicted in strategic diagrams and longitudinal maps, illustrating that over the past two decades, there has been a notable focus on gender studies related to immigrants. Additionally, there has been a significant emphasis on immigration education, higher education, and international students in the basic theme segment. This insight offers academics and professionals a more comprehensive view of the current state of knowledge. It will help them focus their research on the trend of return migration, its causes, benefits, and drawbacks.