Scientometrics and visualized analysis of 3D food printing: A boost to future food customized development

Abstract

There has been an exponential growth of research on three-dimensional food printing (3DFP) in recent years. In this study, scientometric and visual analyses were performed on scientific publications about 3DFP from January 1, 2014, to June 30, 2023, aiming to characterize the evolution, hotspots, and emerging trends in this research area. Using "3D food printing" as the topic search term, 517 studies from 1,509 authors at 441 institutions in 56 countries/regions were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. Scientometric analysis was performed using VOSviewer in terms of annual publications, countries/regions, institutions, authors, journals, highly cited papers, and keywords. A co-occurrence analysis of 105 keywords with a frequency greater than three was conducted, resulting in five clusters. In conjunction with the analysis of highly cited papers and hot papers, "hydrogels," "high internal phase emulsion," "bigels," "dysphagic food," and "4D printing" were identified as the latest high-frequency keywords and research hotspots, indicating the emerging frontiers of 3DFP. The clustered keywords were further discussed to assist researchers in determining the topic scope and planning their research directions. This study revealed the current trends, global collaboration patterns, fundamental knowledge, research hotspots, and emerging frontiers in 3DFP.