Knowledge mapping of research data in China: a bibliometric study using visual analysis

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to provide a systematic and complete knowledge map for use by researchers working in the field of research data. Additionally, the aim is to help them quickly understand the authors' collaboration characteristics, institutional collaboration characteristics, trending research topics, evolutionary trends and research frontiers of scholars from the perspective of library informatics.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adopt the bibliometric method, and with the help of bibliometric analysis software CiteSpace and VOSviewer, quantitatively analyze the retrieved literature data. The analysis results are presented in the form of tables and visualization maps in this paper.FindingsThe research results from this study show that collaboration between scholars and institutions is weak. It also identified the current hotspots in the field of research data, these being: data literacy education, research data sharing, data integration management and joint library cataloguing and data research support services, among others. The important dimensions to consider for future research are the library's participation in a trans-organizational and trans-stage integration of research data, functional improvement of a research data sharing platform, practice of data literacy education methods and models, and improvement of research data service quality.Originality/valuePrevious literature reviews on research data are qualitative studies, while few are quantitative studies. Therefore, this paper uses quantitative research methods, such as bibliometrics, data mining and knowledge map, to reveal the research progress and trend systematically and intuitively on the research data topic based on published literature, and to provide a reference for the further study of this topic in the future.

Editorial: Special selection on current bibliometrics and reviews

“…Regarding research trends, Wani and Ganaie (2024) conducted a bibliometric analysis and found the publication of gray literature, information produced outside of traditional publishing and distribution channels, has been increasing recently, with prominent sources like PLOS One and NeuroImage. Yan et al (2024) provide a systematic knowledge map for researchers in the field of research data management and found that collaboration between scholars and institutions is weak. Results also identified current hotspots, including data literacy education, research data sharing, data integration management, joint library cataloging and data research support services.…”

“…and NeuroImage. Yan et al (2024) provide a systematic knowledge map for researchers in the field of research data management and found that collaboration between scholars and institutions is weak. Results also identified current hotspots, including data literacy education, research data sharing, data integration management, joint library cataloging and data research support services.…”

Spatiotemporal Evolution and Frontier Focus Analysis Based on Coal Fire Control Body of Knowledge

“…WOS is an influential professional and comprehensive scientific information service platform in the research community, which has been accepted by many scholars and personnel [45], contains more than 12,000 world-authoritative and high-impact scholarly journals in a variety of research fields, such as natural sciences, engineering, and technology, and is considered to be the most suitable database for bibliometric analysis. Therefore, this paper uses the core data set of WOS as the source data.…”

A bibliometric study of digital humanities research in China from 2012 to 2021

“…Therefore, we can accurately obtain relevant fields when conducting a bibliometric study. This database is one of the most important sources of bibliometric information in China (Feng, 2022;Yan, et al, 2022;Yun, et al, 2022).…”