Identifying Research Hotspots and Future Development Trends in Current Psychology: A Bibliometric Analysis of the Past Decade's Publications

TL;DR

This bibliometric study analyzes a decade of publications in Current Psychology to identify research hotspots, influential factors, and future trends in psychology, emphasizing personality, emotions, and interdisciplinary approaches.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive visualization and analysis of publication trends, research hotspots, and future directions in the field of psychology over the past decade.

Findings

Main research areas: youth well-being, adult negative emotions, self-awareness.

Hotspots: negative emotions, personality, mental health.

Development trends: personality psychology, interdisciplinary research, emotional-social interaction.

Abstract

By conducting a bibliometric analysis on 4,869 publications in Current Psychology from 2013 to 2022, this paper examined the annual publications and annual citations, as well as the leading institutions, countries, and keywords. CiteSpace, VOSviewer and SCImago Graphica were utilized for visualization analysis. On one hand, this paper analyzed the academic influence of Current Psychology over the past decade. On the other hand, it explored the research hotspots and future development trends within the field of international psychology. The results revealed that the three main research areas covered in the publications of Current Psychology were: the psychological well-being of young people, the negative emotions of adults, and self-awareness and management. The latest research hotspots highlighted in the journal include negative emotions, personality, and mental health. The three main development trends of Current Psychology are: 1) exploring the personality psychology of both adolescents and adults, 2) promoting the interdisciplinary research to study social psychological issues through the use of diversified research methods, and 3) emphasizing the emotional psychology of individuals and their interaction with social reality, from a people-oriented perspective.