Synthetic biology: From a word to a world

TL;DR

This paper explores the current state of synthetic biology by analyzing publication data and keyword trends to understand its development and interdisciplinary nature.

Contribution

It introduces a method to analyze synthetic biology's evolution using keyword-based h-type indices across major scientific databases.

Findings

Identification of key research trends and hotspots

Mapping of interdisciplinary collaborations in synthetic biology

Quantitative assessment of field growth over time

Abstract

Synthetic biology is one of the battlefields where the main countries fight for the supremacy in science. The word synthetic biology hides a big world, ready to be explored by interdisciplinary research collaborations. The purpose of this investigation is to reveal the what, where, when of the current situation in this emerging field. A keyword search string for the field was constructed and applied in the Web of Science and in the Derwent Innovations Index. In particular, we calculated year based h-type indices for high-frequent keywords.