Evolution of the Autism Literature and the Influence of Parents: A Scientific Mapping in Web of Science

A scientometrics analysis of physical activity and transcranial stimulation research

BACKGROUND

The search for alternatives to improve physical performance is rising, and in recent years has been focused on the brain. No bibliometric study analyzing research on physical activity (PA) and transcranial stimulation has been found in the scientific literature. Aims: To provide an overview of the existing scientific research on PA and transcranial brain stimulation in healthy and sports participants, using a bibliometric analysis and graphic mapping of the references in the field. To do this, we analyze annual publication trends in this area, identifying the most productive and cited authors, journals and countries with the highest number of publications, and the most cited documents and keywords.

METHODS

Those publications related to this area, published in journals indexed in the web of science main collection were retrieved and analyzed using the traditional laws of bibliometrics.

RESULTS

A total of 305 documents were found. Annual publications followed an exponential growth trend (R2 = 94.2%); with A. J. Pearce (9 documents) is the most productive coauthor and M.C. Ridding, H. Theoret and M. Lassonde as the most prominent (with 5 most cited papers). The USA (67 papers) and the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (12 papers) were the most productive country and journal respectively. The paper "Action anticipation and motor resonance in elite basketball players" was the most cited paper and "transcranial magnetic stimulation" was the most used keyword.

CONCLUSION

There are extensive research networks throughout the world, with the USA leading the production. Publications on the issue are of high interest in the scientific community as an exponential increase in publications over the last few years was found. The contribution of these findings is to offer a complete picture of the relationship between PA and transcranial brain stimulation in healthy individuals and athletes. Therefore, this comprehensive analysis provides fruitful information for sports researchers and policymakers to make future correct decisions about how to better design and implement training interventions in these groups of individuals.

Gut microbiota and autism spectrum disorders: where do we stand?

BACKGROUND

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have digestive problems and microbial imbalances in their guts, suggesting that these conditions may play a role in the development of the disorder. Scopus-based research on the gut microbiota and ASD was examined in this bibliometric analysis to shed light on the current state of research and identify potential hotspots for future work in this area.

METHODS

We searched documents from the Scopus database and reference citation analysis to collect published data on the gut microbiota and ASD from 2003 to 2022. The downloaded document records were exported to VOSviewer v.1.6.19 to examine and visualize the collaboration between countries and determine the research hotspots.

RESULTS

The search yielded 958 articles specifically dedicated to gut microbiota and ASD. The number of publications in this field increased rapidly after 2013, with a peak in 2022. The United States (n = 267; 27.87%) was the most active country, followed by China (n = 171; 17.85%) and Italy (n = 96; 10.02). International collaboration was observed, with the USA playing a central role. University College Cork, Ireland, was the most productive institution (n = 24; 2.51%). The National Natural Science Foundation of China was the most active funding agency (n = 76; 7.93%). Nutrients journal had the highest number of publications (n = 28; 2.92%). The articles related to gut microbiota and ASD were highly cited, with an h-index of 108. The research themes identified focused on the modulation of gut microbiota as a potential therapy for children with ASD and gut-brain axis dysfunction in ASD.

CONCLUSIONS

In recent years, the study of gut microbiota and its association with ASD has garnered considerable interest as an emergent field of study. The results of this study substantially enhance our current understanding of the knowledge landscape in this field and illuminate potential avenues for future research. It is essential to emphasize the significance of devoting more resources to the newest and most promising research areas, such as investigating the potential therapeutic benefits of modulating the intestinal microbiota in children with ASD. This research has enormous potential and merits intensified focus and investigation.

Autism spectrum disorder research: knowledge mapping of progress and focus between 2011 and 2022

Background

In recent years, a large number of studies have focused on autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study used bibliometric analysis to describe the state of ASD research over the past decade and identify its trends and research fronts.

Methods

Studies on ASD published from 2011 to 2022 were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). Bibliometrix, CiteSpace, and VOSviewer were used for bibliometric analysis.

Results

A total of 57,108 studies were included in the systematic search, and articles were published in more than 6,000 journals. The number of publications increased by 181.7% (2,623 in 2011 and 7,390 in 2021). The articles in the field of genetics are widely cited in immunology, clinical research, and psychological research. Keywords co-occurrence analysis revealed that "causative mechanisms," "clinical features," and "intervention features" were the three main clusters of ASD research. Over the past decade, genetic variants associated with ASD have gained increasing attention, and immune dysbiosis and gut microbiota are the new development frontiers after 2015.

Conclusion

This study uses a bibliometric approach to visualize and quantitatively describe autism research over the last decade. Neuroscience, genetics, brain imaging studies, and gut microbiome studies improve our understanding of autism. In addition, the microbe-gut-brain axis may be an exciting research direction for ASD in the future. Therefore, through visual analysis of autism literature, this paper shows the development process, research hotspots, and cutting-edge trends in this field to provide theoretical reference for the development of autism in the future.

A bibliometrics analysis and visualization of autism spectrum disorder

BACKGROUND

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) increased rapidly in the last 20 years. Although related research has developed rapidly, little is known about its etiology, diagnostic marker, or drug treatment, which forces researchers to review and summarize its development process and look for the future development direction.

METHODS

We used bibliometrics to analyze papers of ASD in the Web of Science from 1998 to 2021, to draw the network of authors, institutions, countries, and keywords in the ASD field, and visualize the results.

RESULTS

A total of 40,597 papers were included with a continually increasing trend. It turns out that the research on ASD is mainly concentrated in universities. The United States has the largest number of ASD studies, followed by England and Canada. The quality of papers related to ASD is generally high, which shows that ASD research has become a hot spot of scientific research. The keywords of ASD etiology and diagnostic markers can be classified into at least 7 aspects. The detection of keywords shows that ASD research is mostly based on its subtypes, takes children as the study population, focuses on neurodevelopmental imaging or genetics, and pays attention to individual differences. And ASD research has changed greatly under the impact of Corona Virus Disease 2019 in the past 2 years.

CONCLUSION

We consider the future development direction should be based on the improvement of case identification, accurate clinical phenotype, large-scale cohort study, the discovery of ASD etiology and diagnostic markers, drug randomized controlled trials, and telehealth.

COVID-19 in the Field of Education: State of the Art

COVID-19 has produced a transformation in society that has, in turn, influenced the field of education. The purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of COVID-19 on education using the Web of Science database. A methodology based on bibliometrics was used. Specifically, a scientific mapping of the literature was carried out, as well as a co-word analysis on the state of the question. The analysis included 940 publications. The results show that the institution with the highest volume of production in this field is the University of London. Among the journals, the Journal of Chemical Education stands out. Furthermore, in the analysis of the structural and thematic development of co-words, a high percentage of keyword matching was observed. In 2020, the motor themes were mental-health, organic-chemistry, general-public, first-year-undergraduate, and upper-division-undergraduate, while in 2021, they were autism-spectrum-disorder, adoption, internet, and intervention. It can be concluded that investigation into COVID-19 in the educational field is in its initial process. The research is currently mainly oriented to pedagogical methods, especially e-learning or collaborative learning, although they are not the only trends in this field. Research is also focusing on mental health, students with various disorders, and higher education. In the near future, research on COVID-19 in the field of education will probably be oriented to the application of effective pedagogical methods to train students at various educational stages.

Co-Word Analysis and Academic Performance of the Term TPACK in Web of Science

The progress of technology has led to the emergence of new teaching methods, among which Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) can be found in an attempt to promote the integration of technology and knowledge, combining technology, pedagogy and theoretical content. The aim of this research is to analyze the significance and evolution of the TPACK concept in the publications contained in Web of Science (WoS). The research method chosen is based on bibliometrics, specifically on the analysis of academic performance and on the analysis of co-words. The total number of documents analyzed is 471. The results show that research on TPACK is on the rise, increasing progressively in recent years. The main area of research is education and educational research, with articles, written in English, being the medium used by researchers to present their results. It can be concluded that, although there is an established research base, there is no single line of research. In this case, the main lines of research are “framework-framework-TPACK” and “technology-pedagogy-beliefs”. It can be determined that the studies on TPACK deal with the integration of technological resources and the analysis of their perception in student learning.

Robotics in Education: A Scientific Mapping of the Literature in Web of Science

The technological revolution has created new educational opportunities. Today, robotics is one of the most modern systems to be introduced in educational settings. The main objective of this research was to analyze the evolution of the “robotics” concept in the educational field while having, as a reference point, the reported literature in the Web of Science (WoS). The methodology applied in this research was bibliometrics, which we used to analyze the structural and dynamic development of the concept. The collection of WoS studies on robotics in education began in 1975. Its evolution has been irregular, reaching peak production in 2019. Although the focus was on collecting studies with educational knowledge areas, other knowledge areas were also present, such as engineering and computing. It was found that the types of manuscript most commonly used to present scientific results in this area are proceedings papers. The country with the highest level of production in this field of study is the United States. The results confirm the potential of this type of study in the scientific field. The importance of this technology in the training of future surgeons and in the results they produce in their own learning was also detected.

STEAM in education: a bibliometric analysis of performance and co-words in Web of Science

BACKGROUND

Emerging methodologies that apply and integrate science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) in education have appeared in recent years as a pedagogical alternative providing more holistic and attractive education.

METHOD

The research methodology used in this work is of a bibliometric nature. Specifically, an academic performance analysis and a co-word analysis has been carried out. The term STEAM was analyzed in the Web of Science (WoS) database. The WoS programs Analyze Results, Creation Citation Report, and SciMAT were used. A total of 1116 manuscripts were analyzed.

RESULTS

The results show that studies in the field education of STEAM began in 2006 and have continued uninterruptedly up to the present day, although interest generated in the scientific community has been irregular.

CONCLUSIONS

It can be concluded that STEAM studies have not had an established and robust line of research over time, although it can be observed that the trends in this aspect are focused on the scientific branch of education. In addition, the topics of study on STEAM include points related to gender differences, the influence of STEAM on people of different races, the skills developed by students, and training teachers to implement teaching and learning processes with STEAM.