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. 2022 Jul 11:13:930713.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.930713. eCollection 2022.

Mapping of Research in the Field of Forest Therapy-Related Issues: A Bibliometric Analysis for 2007-2021

Xin Wang  1 , Xiang-Fei Gong  1 , Ke-Xin Xiong  1 , De-Sheng Guo  1 , Li-Jun Liu  2 , Chia-Min Lin  3 , Wei-Yin Chang  1   2
Affiliations

Mapping of Research in the Field of Forest Therapy-Related Issues: A Bibliometric Analysis for 2007-2021

Xin Wang et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Exposure to forest environments promotes human health. The number of relevant studies in this area has increased rapidly. However, an overall review of relevant analyses from the perspectives of bibliometrics and visualization is lacking. A scientometric analysis of 2,545 publications from 2007 to 2021 via the Web of Science database was conducted to identify the knowledge structure and frontiers objectively. The publications were subsequently analyzed in terms of the distribution of journals and countries, citation bursts, major subject areas, and evolutionary stages. The findings showed that the knowledge foundation of forest therapy was multidisciplinary with most published in the fields of environmental sciences and ecology but lacking input from social disciplines. The research hotspots evolved from the early focus on individual benefits obtained from nature to increasing attention on human well-being at the social-ecological scale. More rigorous experiments with strict randomized controlled trials and blinding are needed to accommodate the trend of forest therapy toward non-pharmacological treatments. According to Shneider's four-stage theory, forest therapy research is in the third stage of the scientific research process. More future studies utilizing novel technologies and decision-making frameworks to solve practical issues are needed for introducing health into policies and promoting human well-being.

Keywords: bibliometric analysis; forest therapy; green spaces; human well-being; intellectual development.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Methodology steps used in the bibliometric analysis developed for forest therapy.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Annual growth in the number of publications in our research area.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The collaboration network of authors that published studies on forest therapy.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Keyword co-occurrence visualization network.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
The keywords with the strongest citation bursts in publications on forest therapy research.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
A landscape view of the main clusters.
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
A timeline visualization of the main clusters.
FIGURE 8
FIGURE 8
High-impact publications in Cluster #0.
FIGURE 9
FIGURE 9
High-impact publications in Cluster #1.
FIGURE 10
FIGURE 10
High-impact publications in Cluster #2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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