Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping

TLDR

VOSviewer focuses on the graphical representation of bibliometric maps, unlike most other bibliometric mapping programs. The authors present VOSviewer, a freely available program for constructing and viewing bibliometric maps. The paper is organized into three parts: an overview of VOSviewer’s functionality, a discussion of its technical implementation, and a demonstration of its ability to handle large maps. VOSviewer effectively displays large bibliometric maps in an easy‑to‑interpret way, as demonstrated by constructing a co‑citation map of 5,000 major scientific journals.

Abstract

We present VOSviewer, a freely available computer program that we have developed for constructing and viewing bibliometric maps. Unlike most computer programs that are used for bibliometric mapping, VOSviewer pays special attention to the graphical representation of bibliometric maps. The functionality of VOSviewer is especially useful for displaying large bibliometric maps in an easy-to-interpret way. The paper consists of three parts. In the first part, an overview of VOSviewer's functionality for displaying bibliometric maps is provided. In the second part, the technical implementation of specific parts of the program is discussed. Finally, in the third part, VOSviewer's ability to handle large maps is demonstrated by using the program to construct and display a co-citation map of 5,000 major scientific journals.