Mapping A Discipline: A Guide to Using VOSviewer for Bibliometric and Visual Analysis

In the age of information, data collected from database publishers can tell a story. Over time, research publications from an institution can reveal patterns in the work of faculty, students, and researchers. This is illustrated using visualization platforms such as VOSviewer. Information professionals can generate these visualizations to reveal researcher collaborations and trends in research topics supporting subject liaison service and collection activities. In this article, VOSviewer is used to discover the relationship of publications from campus authors within engineering fields. A discussion of the steps taken in this study will help guide information professionals, librarians, or researchers in taking this approach to understanding research and publications.