Thirty years of research on negative symptoms of schizophrenia: A scientometric analysis of hotspots, bursts, and research trends.

Research on negative symptoms of schizophrenia has received renewed interest since the 1980s. A scientometric analysis that objectively maps scientific knowledge, with changes in recent trends, is currently lacking. We searched the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) on December 17, 2021 using relevant keywords. R-bibliometrix and CiteSpace were used to perform the analysis. We retrieved 27,568 references published between 1966 and 2022. An exponential rise in scientific interest was observed, with an average annual growth rate in publications of 16.56% from 1990 to 2010. The co-cited reference network that was retrieved presented 24 different clusters with a well-structured network (Q=0.7921; S=0.9016). Two distinct major research trends were identified: research on the conceptualization and treatment of negative symptoms. The latest trends in research on negative symptoms include evidence synthesis, nonpharmacological treatments, and computational psychiatry. Scientometric analyses provide a useful summary of changes in negative symptom research across time by identifying intellectual turning point papers and emerging trends. These results will be informative for systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and generating novel hypotheses.
Competing Interests: Conflict of interest Chaomei Chen, Natacha Perez and Michel Sabe declare no conflict of interest. Stefan Kaiser received royalties for cognitive tests and training software from Schuhfried. Armida Mucci received fees for educational programs from AstraZeneca, Innova-Pharma, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Janssen-Cilag. Silvana Galderisi received fees for educational programs or advisory boards from AstraZeneca, Innova-Pharma, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Janssen-Cilag. Marco Solmi has received honoraria/has been a consultant for Angelini, Lundbeck and Otsuka. Gregory P Strauss is one of the original developers of the Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS) and receives royalties and consultation fees from ProPhase LLC in connection with the commercial use of the BNSS and other professional activities; these fees are donated to the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. Gregory P Strauss has received honoraria and travel support from ProPhase LLC for training pharmaceutical company raters on the BNSS. Gregory P Strauss received consulting fees and travel support from Minerva Neurosciences, Acadia, Otsuka, Lundbeck, and Boeringer-Ingelheim.
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