Evolution Trend of Brain Science Research: An Integrated Bibliometric and Mapping Approach

Abstract

Background: Brain science research is considered the crown jewel of 21st-century scientific research; the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan have elevated brain science research to a national strategic level. This study employs bibliometric analysis and knowledge graph visualization to map global trends, research hotspots, and collaborative networks in brain science, providing insights into the field's evolving landscape and future directions.

Methods: We analyzed 13,590 articles (1990-2023) from the Web of Science Core Collection using CiteSpace and VOSviewer. Metrics included publication volume, co-authorship networks, citation patterns, keyword co-occurrence, and burst detection. Analytical tools such as VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and online bibliometric platforms were employed to facilitate this investigation.

Results: The United States, China, and Germany dominated research output, with China's publications rising from sixth to second globally post-2016, driven by national initiatives like the China Brain Project. However, China exhibited limited international collaboration compared to the United States and European Union. Key journals included Human Brain Mapping and Journal of Neural Engineering, while emergent themes centered on "task analysis," "deep learning," and "brain-computer interfaces" (BCIs). Research clusters revealed three focal areas: (1) Brain Exploration (e.g., fMRI, diffusion tensor imaging), (2) Brain Protection (e.g., stroke rehabilitation, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis therapies), and (3) Brain Creation (e.g., neuromorphic computing, BCIs integrated with AR/VR). Despite China's high output, its influence lagged in highly cited scholars, reflecting a "quantity-over-quality" challenge.

Conclusion: Brain science research is in a golden period of development. This bibliometric analysis offers the first comprehensive review, encapsulating research trends and progress in brain science. It reveals current research frontiers and crucial directions, offering a strategic roadmap for researchers and policymakers to navigate countries when planning research layouts.

Keywords: bibliometrics; brain science; research hotspot.

FIGURE 1

The visualization operation process of the derivation diagram of brain science research. Data collection and analysis are carried out in three steps: searching and defining data, extracting and cleaning data, and analyzing data. Type selection includes frontier outburst, hotspot evolution, theme co‐occurrence, subject cooperation, international strength, and so on. Visual topic types include keywords emergent, theme clustering, timeline, hot spot highlighting, subject clustering, and so on.

FIGURE 2

The annual publications indexed in the WOS from 2013 to 2022 and the article number of the top 5 countries/regions with “brain sciences” are presented.

FIGURE 3

Author's cooperation map. According to programmed calculations and a two‐dimensional diagram. There are 40,897 authors in total, of whom 2094 have collaborative relationships, with a minimum value set at 14.

FIGURE 4

Cross‐country collaborations visualization map. The network of cross‐country collaborations of brain science research is calculated by associating the Cite Space operational with the network model “PF‐NET,” setting Nodes (TopN, e) = {n(i), TopN = 50, TopN% = 10%, and the literature monolith with “g2 ≤ kΣi ≤ GCI, k ∈ z+, k = 25” as the interval value.

FIGURE 5

Institutional cooperation map. The network of institutional collaborations of brain science research is calculated by associating the Cite Space operational with the network model “PF‐NET,” setting Nodes (TopN, e) = {n(i), TopN = 50, TopN% = 10%, and the literature monolith with “g2 ≤ kΣi ≤ GCI, k ∈ z+, k = 25” as the interval value.

FIGURE 6

Co‐occurrence map of keywords. In keyword co‐occurrence analysis, there are a total of 300 keywords that are limited to appearing no less than 14 times. The larger the keyword size of the same type, the higher the frequency of occurrence, and the color represents the time period of keyword occurrence.

FIGURE 7

Timeline view of reference clustering. Nodes represent keywords (the bigger the circle, the more frequently it appears), and the labels of the clusters are listed on the right, where #2 is diffusion tensor imaging, #3 is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and #6 is functional connectivity.

FIGURE 8

Keyword emergence analysis in the literature. A total of 20 emergent words are detected in the literature analysis of brain science.

FIGURE 9

Competitiveness of brain science research in major countries/organizations. The bubble volume is determined by the total number of countries (organizations) in the last decade.