2018, Emily E. Roach, "The homoerotics of the boyband, queerbaiting and RPF in pop music fandoms", in The Journal of Fandom Studies, Volume 6, Number 2, June 2018:
In 2017 Tumblr fandometrics identified that two of the ten most reblogged ships were RPF ships. YouTube vloggers Dan Howell and Phil Lester, whose ship portmanteau is Phan, and Park Kimin and Jeon Jungkook, whose ship portmanteau is Jikook, of K-pop group BTS […]
For example, there are portmanteaus of each and every BTS member combination, with fans hoping that JiKook (Jimin and Jungkook) or V-Hope (V and J-Hope) will become a thing.
2019, Palmer Haasch, "Community, Soul-Searching and Pleasure: The Significance of Real Person Fanfiction in BTS Fandom", thesis submitted to the University of Minnesota, page 13:
"JiKook," the pairing of Korean boy band BTS members Jeon Jeong-guk and Park Ji-min, is the fourth most popular ship despite the fact that neither pairing is together in real life.