Horizon Scanning in Tissue Engineering Using Citation Network Analysis

Establishing a horizon scanning method is critical for identifying technologies that require new guidelines or regulations. We studied the application of bibliographic citation network analysis to horizon scanning.

The possibility of applying the proposed method to interdisciplinary fields was investigated with the emphasis on tissue engineering and its example, three-dimensional bio-printing.

In all, 233,968 articles on tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, biofabrication, and additive manufacturing published between January 1, 1900 and November 3, 2021 were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection. The citation network of the articles was analyzed for confirmation that the evolution of 3D bio-printing is reflected by tracking the key articles in the field. However, the results revealed that the major articles on the clinical application of 3D bio-printed products are located in clusters other than that of 3D bio-printers. We investigated the research trends in this field by analyzing the articles published between 2019 and 2021 and detected various basic technologies constituting tissue engineering, including microfluidics and scaffolds such as electrospinning and conductive polymers. The results suggested that the research trend of technologies required for product development and future clinical applications of the product are sometimes detected independently by bibliographic citation network analysis, particularly for interdisciplinary fields.

This method can be applied to the horizon scanning of an interdisciplinary field. However, identifying basic technologies of the targeted field and following the progress of research and the integration process of each component of technology are critical.