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. 2020 May 7;17(9):3255.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17093255.

The Landscape of Risk Communication Research: A Scientometric Analysis

Floris Goerlandt  1 , Jie Li  2   3 , Genserik Reniers  4   5   6
Affiliations

The Landscape of Risk Communication Research: A Scientometric Analysis

Floris Goerlandt et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Risk communication is a significant research domain with practical importance in supporting societal risk governance and informed private decision making. In this article, a high-level analysis of the risk communication research domain is performed using scientometrics methods and visualization tools. Output trends and geographical patterns are identified, and patterns in scientific categories determined. A journal distribution analysis provides insights into dominant journals and the domain's intellectual base. Thematic clusters and temporal evolution of focus topics are obtained using a terms analysis, and a co-citation analysis provides insights into the evolution of research fronts and key documents. The results indicate that the research volume grows exponentially, with by far most contributions originating from Western countries. The domain is highly interdisciplinary, rooted in psychology and social sciences, and branching mainly into medicine and environmental sciences. Narrative themes focus on risk communication in medical and societal risk governance contexts. The domain originated from public health and environmental concerns, with subsequent research fronts addressing risk communication concepts and models. Applied research fronts are associated with environmental hazards, public health, medical risks, nuclear power, and emergency response to various natural hazards. Based on the results, various avenues for future research are described.

Keywords: CiteSpace; VOSviewer; bibliometrics; risk communication; scientometrics.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Yearly outputs of risk communication research.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Geographical distribution of global risk communication research.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Countries/regions collaboration network in risk communication research (NP > 5).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Scientific categories of risk communication research on global science map.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Dual-map overlay of risk communication papers on the global science map, on the basis of journals.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Term density map of risk communication research, all documents (458 terms included).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Term density map of risk communication research, average publication year before 2010, (227 terms included).
Figure 8
Figure 8
Term density map of risk communication research, average publication year after 2010, (231 terms included).
Figure 9
Figure 9
Clusters of co-citation network of risk communication research.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Top five highly cited references in each co-citation network cluster.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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