Global research trends, publication characteristics and knowledge domains of plant reproductive biology: A bibliometric and knowledge mapping analysis of 50 years

This article describes a quantitative investigation of prosocial behaviour (PSB) research in bibliometric analysis. This bibliometric study focuses on the global research trends followed using Scopus Database. The main variables used for analyses of this study were by year, source, affiliation, author, country, area of a subject, and document type. The analysis of CiteScore, total publications, total citations, and h-index was done to rank the top contributors. The first research article on PSB was published in 1967, followed by the most recent publications in 2020. A total of 3,644 publications have been found during these 53 years. The author keywords and co-occurrences have been represented by bibliometric maps using VOSviewer 1.6.16. This study found an increase in the research trend for PSB, which was mainly published in seven (7) different publishers' journals. Amongst these, American Psychological Association, Wiley, and Frontiers are the three top publishers with 4.61%, 4.23%, and 4.21% contribution to the total publications. Findings regarding the top 15 most prolific authors showed that most of the authors related to PSB were from the United States, followed by Italy, Canada, and only one from Netherlands, Germany, and Chile. Further, most of the PSB research work was done in psychology. Overall, this study provides an evidence base, highlighting global trends and directions of research work published on PSB, adding value to the existing body of knowledge, and paving the way for future researchers.

Aim: Malaria vaccine is one of the critical areas in tropical health research, considering the success recorded in other vaccine-preventable diseases. This study is aimed at reviewing recent trends in global malaria vaccine research from 2005 to 2022.Method: A validated search strategy was undertaken to identify scientific literature on the malaria vaccine in the Scopus database. Bibliometric indicators identified include a pattern of publication growth and citations over the study period; top authors, countries, funding organizations, and journals; keywords, including different malarial parasite species, and the overall research themes.Result: A total of 6457 documents were found from 2005 to 2022, published in 160 journals/sources in 189 countries/territories. Malaria Journal published the highest number of research outputs (478, 7.4%) within the study period, and the highest number of documents (468, 7.3%) were published in 2021. There were 214,323 total citations, with 33.2 average citations per document and 167 documents' h-index. The United States, United Kingdom, and Australia combined produced more than 60% of the publication output, with most collaboration with African countries such as Kenya. Plasmodium falciparum is the most occurring parasite species keyword (754, 11.7%), with a growing interest in Plasmodium knowlesi (30, 0.5%). Merozoite surface protein, characterization, trials, infant/children, traveler, and research/review were the six themes that emerged from the studies.Conclusion: The last one and half decades have seen a significant increase in malaria vaccine research and citations, mainly targeting vaccine development, safety, and efficacy in Africa. This necessitates more international efforts to improve the vaccines' effectiveness considering different Plasmodium species.

Today's educational landscape is dominated by media, with a shift away from traditional lecture-based teaching approaches and toward more hands-on, interactive learning through the use of learning media. Learning media play a crucial role, particularly in educational activities that prioritize competences associated with process skills. The importance of media in facilitating students (learners), its presentation is adjusted to the learning objectives set. The purpose of this study is to track the evolution and trajectory of digital learning research in Scopus-indexed articles. This research examined every article indexed in the Scopus database using bibliometric analytic tools of Global Trends in Digital Learning Research a Bibliometric Mapping from 2020 to 2024. Data analyzed using Excel and R/R-Studio. VOSviewer is used to perform visual analysis of the simultaneous occurrence of keywords and document citations. The authors found 2,154 publications that fit the function, subject, and criteria set. The results of this study show an annual growth rate of 9.26%, with publications on Global Trends in Digital Learning Research a Bibliometric Mapping the most in 2023. China became the country that contributed the most publications with affiliations from the Ministry of Education. Zhang Y became the most prolific writer on the theme of Education Learning. The scope of the bibliometric study was restricted to data from Scopus. The study did not account for other national and international databases. This study offers suggestions for further research by giving a succinct summary of the literature available to education and technology researchers.

β-Thalassemia is a prevalent inherited disorder of β-globin chains. The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) genome editing system has emerged as a potential curative strategy. We conducted a bibliometric analysis to map global research trends in CRISPR-based thalassemia research. Original and review research articles were retrieved from the Scopus database using the search terms [TITLE-ABS-KEY (‘βeta thalassemia’ OR ‘β thalassemia’ OR thalassemia*) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY (‘gene edit*’ OR crispr* OR ‘clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats’)] AND [LIMIT-TO (DOCTYPE, ‘re’) OR LIMIT-TO (DOCTYPE, ‘ar’)] for analysis. Bibliometric mapping and network visualization were performed using VOSviewer to analyze publication trends, authorship networks, international collaborations, keyword clusters, and citation metrics. Major CRISPR-based therapeutic strategies for thalassemia were reviewed to place experimental and clinical developments within a translational framework. The analysis demonstrates a clear transition from foundational genomic studies to translational applications, with leading contributions from the United States and China. Two dominant therapeutic strategies have emerged: direct correction of the HBB gene in hematopoietic stem cells and fetal hemoglobin reactivation via BCL11A repression. The latter strategy culminated in regulatory approval of exagamglogene autotemcel (Casgevy). Advances in base editing, prime editing, and strategies to improve engraftment are expected to enhance the precision and long-term efficacy of next-generation approaches. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-based research on thalassemia continues to expand, supported by extensive international collaboration and growing clinical translation. Future large-scale implementation will require advances in bioprocess engineering, cost reduction for ex vivo manufacturing, and adaptable treatment models for diverse healthcare systems.

The research of utilizing agricultural waste has been established for over 6 decades, yet problems regarding plastic waste remain the biggest challenge in environmental issues. The aim of this study was to capture the publication, thematic, and collaborative trends in agricultural waste-based bioplastic research through bibliometric or scientometric analysis. Metadata of relevant research was downloaded from the Scopus database as of November 9, 2024, utilizing a pre-determined combination of keywords. We included records from original research and English-written documents, which were further manually screened for relevance. Scienntometric analysis was analyzed using both bibliometrix and VOSviewer. We found 1,451 records being relevant to the scientometric studies, where the publication peaked at 2024 (n = 170). The most relevant source title was the Science of The Total Environment (n=40), followed by polymer and agricultural-related titles. The words “plastic,” “film,” and “mechanical strength” were the most commonly used, with occurrences reaching 3532, 1471, and 1008 times in the abstract. The thematic analysis revealed that the “bioplastic for food packaging” and “starch” are motor and declining themes, respectively. The VOSviewer visualization of keywords co-occurrence revealed “starch” and “bioplastic” as the dominant keywords with total link strengths (TLSs) of 12 and 13, respectively. An Indonesian university, Universitas Sumatera Utara, was the most productive (n=45). However, the country is in 18th position (n=329) with the least average citations per document (5.5). China and the United States were the most productive countries (n=194 and 99, respectively) that received a total of 3523 and 3345 citations, respectively. Collaboration between China and the United States was established with a TLS of 14, with other observed collaborations such as India, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and Brazil. In conclusion, the research is growing rapidly each year, with China-based institutions leading the field, while countries like Indonesia are beginning to gain recognition. The main focus of innovation in this research is on producing bioplastics for food packaging, which is the most reported area. Additionally, there is a trend toward exploring alternative raw materials, indicating a reduced utilization of starch. Future research should aim to optimize bioplastic production by exploring diverse approaches and fostering international collaboration. Doi: 10.28991/HEF-2025-06-01-015 Full Text: PDF

The paper aims at examining the global trends in digital library research based on data extracted from the Scopus database at the global, national, institutional and individual levels. Using performance indicators like total citations, the number of publications, h-index, total link strength the study aims to evaluate the prolific authors, organizations, countries, chronological growth of literature, document forms, most prolific journals, application of Lotkas’s law to evaluate the author productivity and analysis of keywords to know the trending topics of research in Digital Libraries. The study uses VOSviewer to prepare the network map of organizational and country co-authorship analysis with clustering technique and MS-Excel for graphical and statistical analysis. The core findings are like the most productive year is 2019 and the number of publications increased rapidly from the starting year of data collection 2016. The results reveal that the USA is the most productive country in terms of the number of publications and impact with the University of Illinois the first rank in the list of prolific institutions. B Gipp from the University of Wuppertal is the most productive author.

Fertility is a hot topic and many publications on spermatogenesis has been published during the past 10 years (2012-2021). This study aims to analyse the research trends and dynamics on spermatogenesis using bibliometric methods. In this study, only articles with an annual average citation of 1 or more were selected for analysis, and a total of 4849 articles were analysed. The results show that in the field of spermatogenesis over the past 10 years, mainland China and the United States are the two leading countries, and international collaboration becoming increasingly close; Nanjing Medical University is the most widely published and collaborated institution; PLOS One and Biology of Reproduction are the most published and cited journals; Andrologia is the most popular journal in Andrology subspecialty; Zhang has made the largest contribution, with the highest number of publications and total citations; 'testis', 'male infertility' and 'apoptosis' were the most researched trend topics. The future trends on spermatogenesis are likely to favour hot topics such as 'inflammation', 'transcriptomics' and 'exosomes'. In the conclusion, our study analyses the research trends on spermatogenesis over the past 10 years, which will provide a reference for researchers in this field.

Global trends in nitrate leaching research in the 1960–2017 period

BackgroundLung cancer ranks as one of the most rapidly growing malignancies. Which is characterized by its poor prognosis and a low survival rate due to late diagnosis and limited efficacy of conventional treatments. In recent years nanotechnology has emerged as a promising frontier in the management of lung cancer, presenting novel strategies to enhance drug administration, improve therapeutic efficiency, and mitigate side effects. This research comprehensively evaluates the current state and research trends concerning the application of nanomaterials in lung cancer through bibliometric analysis.Materials and methodsWe employed a systematic approach by retrieving studies from the Scopus database that focused on nanomaterials and lung cancer between 2003 and 2023. Subsequently, we carefully selected relevant articles based on predetermined inclusion criteria. The selected publications were then subjected to bibliometric and visual analysis using softwares such as VOSviewer and Biblioshiny.ResultsA total of 3523 studies that meet inclusion criteria were selected for bibliometric analysis. We observed a progressive increase in the number of annual publications from 2003 to 2023, indicating the growing interest in this field. According to our analysis, China is the primary contributor to publication output among the countries. The “Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China” was the most influential institution. Among the authors, "Dr. Jack A. Roth” and “Dr. Huang Leaf” had the highest number of publications and cited publications, respectively. The “International Journal of Nanomedicine” was found to be the most prolific journal in this field. Additionally, “Biomaterials” emerged as the most cited journal. Through keyword analysis, we identified five main research themes and future research directions; nono-immunotherapy and green synthesis are the hot topics in this research field.ConclusionOur study summarized the key characteristics of publications in this field and identified the most influential countries, institutions, authors, journals, hot topics, and trends related to the application of nanomaterials in lung cancer. These findings contribute to the existing body of knowledge and serve as a foundation for future research endeavors in this area. More effective efforts are needed in this field to reduce the burden of lung cancer and help achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

This study aimed to investigate and summarise the current state of research and trends in orthopaedic surgical robots. Data on publicly available publications related to orthopaedic surgical robots were extracted by abstract searches of the Web of Science Core Collection database. A bibliometric analysis and detailed reading of the publications were then carried out and the information was visualised using co-authorship analysis, coupling analysis, co-citation analysis and co-occurrence analysis in VOSviewer. With 436 publications included in the study from 1993 to 2022, the overall contribution of publications to the world showed an increasing trend year by year, with a particularly pronounced after 2017, and a geographical trend of predominantly East Asia, North America, and Western Europe. Of these, China was the largest contributor (n = 128). Overall, the UK affiliates and their scholars were leaders in the field, with a high number of publications, total citations, average citations per article and H-index. The most published institutions and authors were Imperial College London (n = 21) and Professor Fares Sahi Haddad of University College London (n = 12), respectively. Journals with a high overall impact on robotic orthopaedic surgery were the Journal of Arthroplasty, Bone Joint Journal, International Journal of Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery. Keyword co-occurrence network analysis revealed four main clusters: robot-assisted knee, hip arthroplasty, spine surgery, and robotic technology research and development. The top three most common sites for robot-assisted surgery use were the knee, hip and spine. The most used robot types were the knee and spine, with Mako and Arobot being the most used robots for the knee and TiRobot for the spine. This study comprehensively reveals the current status and trends of global research on orthopaedic surgical robots, covering countries, institutions, authors, journals, research hotspots, robot types and surgical sites, providing directional guidance and research ideas for further research on the technological development and clinical evaluation of orthopaedic surgical robots.

Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is the most common endocrine malignancy worldwide. The treatment of PTC has attracted extensive attention and discussion from the public and scholars. However, no article has systematically assessed the related literature. Therefore, we conducted a bibliometric and knowledge map analysis to reveal the dynamic scientific developments in the PTC therapy field. We retrieved publications related to PTC therapy from the Web of Scientific Core Collection (WoSCC) on May 1, 2023. The bibliometric package in R software, VOSviewer and CiteSpace software were used to analyze countries/regions, institutions, journals, authors, references, and keywords. Then, we systematized and summarized the research landscape, global trends and hot topics of research. This bibliometric analysis spanned from 2012 to 2022 and involved 18,501 authors affiliated with 3,426 institutions across 87 countries/regions, resulting in the publication of 3,954 papers in 860 academic journals. Notably, the number of publications and citations related to PTC therapy research has exhibited a steady increase over the past decade. China and the United States have emerged as leading contributors in terms of publication count, with the United States also being the most cited country. Furthermore, among the top 10 institutions with the highest number of published papers, half were located in China. Among the journals, Thyroid is ranked first in terms of total publications and citations. The most productive individual author was Miyauchi Akira. While previous research primarily focused on surgery and radioactive iodine therapy, the increasing emphasis on health awareness and advancements in medical technology have led to the emergence of active surveillance, thermal ablation, and genomic analysis as prominent areas of research. In conclusion, this comprehensive and quantitative bibliometric analysis elucidates the research trends and hotspots within PTC therapy, drawing from a substantial body of publications. This study provides valuable insights into the historical and current landscape of PTC therapy research while also offering guidance for future research directions. This study serves as a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners seeking new avenues of exploration in the field.

The aim of the present work is to determine the share of country self-citations and to analyze its impact on total citations, average citation per paper, % cited publications and ranking of top ten most research productive countries over the period 1996–2015 using Scopus database. It was found that the mean and median of the country self-citation rates of these countries were 28.0 ± 3.8% and 22.9 ± 12.1% respectively and ranged from 17.8% (Canada) to 54.9% (China) over the studied period. United States (45.6%) ranked second country with % self-citation after China (54.9%). Country self-citations and/or its percentage were highly and positively correlated with total publications, total citations, cited publications and international collaboration. On the other hand, a strong negative correlation was observed between country self-citations with both average net-citation per paper and per capita publication. Also, significant impact of self-citation on total citations, average citation per paper and % cited publications was observed. China in total citations and United States in average citation per paper and % cited publications, were the most affected nations in rankings among all the studied nations. Among top 10 countries, China contains the highest share of self-citations in both average citation per paper (55.1%) and % cited publications (37.9%). Thus, self-citation has a strong impact on the top country’s scholarly performance. Some implications/recommendations were suggested to deal with country self-citation phenomenon. Shortly, excluding self-citation from calculating various citation-based bibliometric indicators will not remove the entire effect, but at least, it will produce a more reliable and real impact of each publication.

This study aimed to use visual mapping and bibliometric analysis to summarize valuable information on the tumor microenvironment (TME)-related research on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the past 20 years and to identify the research hotspots and trends in this field. We screened all of the relevant literature on the TME of HCC in the Web of Science database from 2003 to 2023 and analysed the research hotspots and trends in this field via VOSviewer and CiteSpace. A total of 2,157 English studies were collected. According to the prediction, the number of papers that were published in the past three years will be approximately 1,394, accounting for 64.63%. China published the most papers (n=1,525) and had the highest total number of citations (n=32,253). Frontiers In Immunology published the most articles on the TME of HCC (n=75), whereas, Hepatology was the journal with the highest total number of citations (n=4,104) and average number of citations (n=91). The four clusters containing keywords such as "cancer-associated fibroblasts", "hepatic stellate cells", "immune cells", "immunotherapy", "combination therapy", "landscape", "immune infiltration", and "heterogeneity" are currently hot research topics in this field. The keywords "cell death", "ferroptosis", "biomarkers", and "prognostic features" have emerged relatively recently, and these research directions are becoming increasingly popular. We identified four key areas of focus in the study of the TME in HCC: the main components and roles in the TME, immunotherapy, combination therapy, and the microenvironmental landscape. Moreover, the result of our study indicate that effect of ferroptosis on the TME in HCC may become a future research trend.

BackgroundFor early-stage non-small cell lung cancer, surgical resection is the preferred treatment. However, for elderly patients, those with comorbidities, or those with poor lung function, it may be difficult for them to tolerate the surgery. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) precisely damages the tumor through thermal energy, is minimally invasive, has a quick recovery, and maximally preserves lung function. It has become an important option for patients who are not suitable for surgery. This study aimed to explore the research hotspots and development trends in the field of RFA of lung cancer through bibliometric analysis.MethodsWeb of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) was used to search for articles on RFA for lung cancer. CiteSpace and VOSviewer software were used to analyze the publication trend, country, institution, author, journal, keywords, etc.ResultsA total of 1,367 articles were retrieved. China ranked first in publication volume (n=413), but its institutional average citation and H-index were lower than those of European and American institutions. Harvard University and UNICANCER showed higher academic influence. Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology [88 articles, total citations (TCs) =3,024, total link strength (TLS) =27,689] and Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (TC =1,900, TLS =23,057) were significantly ahead in the number of publications, TC and collaborative network strength (TLS). The most frequently used keywords were RFA (n=843), lung cancer (n=311), thermal ablation (n=300), etc.ConclusionsThe research on RFA for lung cancer has formed a complete innovation chain of “technology evolution, safety verification, clinical practice, prognosis optimization”, which is deepening from single ablation technology to multimodal combined treatment and molecular mechanism research. Interdisciplinary cooperation and the integration of emerging omics analysis promote the transformation of the field to evidence-based medicine. In the future, it is necessary to strengthen transnational cooperation network and focus on real-world long-term efficacy verification and drug resistance mechanism analysis, so as to accelerate the strategic upgrading of RFA from a local ablation technology to an individualized, interdisciplinary integrated treatment paradigm.

The cassava processing chain is potentially sustainable and can actively contribute in the change towards the circular economy. The present article aimed at assessing global scientific research trends on anaerobic treatment of wastewater originating from cassava processing. In this regard, a bibliometric analysis of anaerobic digestion and biogas production of wastewater from cassava processing was carried out within the period between 1980 and 2020, using the Scopus database. The results showed that the interest of research on the subject grew exponentially from 2001, being mainly focused on the recovery of by‐products such as methane, biogas, hydrogen, bio‐oil, bioethanol, propionic acid and butyric acid. Full‐scale anaerobic wastewater treatment already is carried out in countries such as India, China and Thailand, and has been explored largely in developing countries. The studies demonstrated that wastewater bioconversion is an attractive solution, with widespread full‐scale applications. The authors of the present work expect that new publications on environmental and economic sustainability of the processing industry of cassava by‐products will contribute to the sector's development towards a green and low‐carbon economy. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).