Knowledge atlas of post-traumatic epilepsy research: Based on citespace visualization analysis

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Neuroscience
• Biomedical Informatics

Background:

• Posttraumatic epilepsy (PTE) presents complex mechanisms and unsatisfactory treatment outcomes.
• Understanding the research landscape is crucial for advancing PTE studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze and visualize the research trends and intellectual structure of posttraumatic epilepsy (PTE) literature from January 2000 to June 2020.
• To identify key research areas, influential publications, and emerging frontiers in PTE.
• To provide a comprehensive overview of the global research foundation and focus in the PTE field.

Main Methods:

• Bibliometric analysis using CiteSpace and VOSviewer software.
• Analysis of cooperative networks (authors, institutions, countries), keyword co-occurrence, document co-citation, and journal dual-map overlays.
• Construction of research atlases to visualize the PTE research landscape.

Main Results:

• The United States and Finland are leading countries in PTE research publications.
• Key journals include Journal of Neurotrauma, Journal of Neuroscience, Brain Research, and Neurobiology of Disease.
• Quantitative diffusion MRI is a critical tool, and research on seizure susceptibility and mechanisms is prominent.

Conclusions:

• This bibliometric analysis offers a deep understanding of the PTE research foundation, frontiers, and focus.
• Identified key players and publications provide a roadmap for future research directions in PTE.
• The study highlights the importance of quantitative diffusion MRI and seizure susceptibility in PTE research.