Search

BackgroundWith the development of quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG), an increasing number of studies have been published on the clinical use of QEEG in the past two decades, particularly in the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of neuropsychiatric disorders. However, to date, the current status and developing trends of this research field have not been systematically analyzed from a macroscopic perspective. The present study aimed to identify the hot spots, knowledge base, and frontiers of QEEG research in neuropsychiatric disorders from 2000 to 2021 through bibliometric analysis.MethodsQEEG-related publications in the neuropsychiatric field from 2000 to 2021 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC). CiteSpace and VOSviewer software programs, and the online literature analysis platform (bibliometric.com) were employed to perform bibliographic and visualized analysis.ResultsA total of 1,904 publications between 2000 and 2021 were retrieved. The number of QEEG-related publications in neuropsychiatric disorders increased steadily from 2000 to 2021, and research in psychiatric disorders requires more attention in comparison to research in neurological disorders. During the last two decades, QEEG has been mainly applied in neurodegenerative diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, and mental disorders to reveal the pathological mechanisms, assist clinical diagnosis, and promote the selection of effective treatments. The recent hot topics focused on QEEG utilization in neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, traumatic brain injury and related cerebrovascular diseases, epilepsy and seizure, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and other mental disorders like major depressive disorder and schizophrenia. In addition, studies to cross-validate QEEG biomarkers, develop new biomarkers (e.g., functional connectivity and complexity), and extract compound biomarkers by machine learning were the emerging trends.ConclusionThe present study integrated bibliometric information on the current status, the knowledge base, and future directions of QEEG studies in neuropsychiatric disorders from a macroscopic perspective. It may provide valuable insights for researchers focusing on the utilization of QEEG in this field.

Objectives: Disorders of consciousness (DoC) is a dynamic and challenging discipline, presenting intriguing challenges to clinicians and neurorehabilitation specialists for the lack of reliable assessment methods and interventions. Understanding DoC keeps pace with scientific research is urgent to need. We quantitively analyzed publications on DoC over the recent 10 years via bibliometrics analysis, to summarize the intellectual structure, current research hotspots, and future research trends in the field of DoC. Methods: Literature was obtained from the Science Citation Index Expanded of Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). To illustrate the knowledge structure of DoC, CiteSpace 5.8.R3 was used to conduct a co-occurrence analysis of countries, institutions, and keywords, and a co-citation analysis of references and journals. Also, Gephi 0.9.2 contributed to the author and co-cited author analysis. We found the most influential journals, authors, and countries and the most talked about keywords in the last decade of research. Results: A total of 1919 publications were collected. Over the past 10 years, the total number of annual publications has continued to increase, with the largest circulation in 2018. We found most DoC research and close cooperation originated from developed countries, e.g., the USA, Canada, and Italy. Academics from Belgium appear to have a strong presence in the field of DoC. The most influential journals were also mainly distributed in the USA and some European countries. Conclusions: This bibliometric study sheds light on the knowledge architecture of DoC research over the past decade, reflecting current hotspots and emerging trends, and providing new insights for clinicians and academics interested in DoC. The hot issues in DoC were diagnosing and differentiating the level of consciousness, and detecting covert awareness in early severe brain-injured patients. New trends focus on exploring the recovery mechanism of DoC and neuromodulation techniques.