Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Human Reward System Research: A Bibliometric Analysis and Visualisation of Current Research Trends.

BACKGROUND

The human reward system has been extensively studied using neuroimaging. This bibliometric analysis aimed to determine the global trend in diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) and human reward research in terms of the number of documents, the most active countries and their collaborating countries, the top journals and institutions, the most prominent authors and most cited articles, and research hotspots.

METHODS

The research datasets were acquired from the Scopus database. The search terms used were 'reward' AND 'human' AND 'diffusion imaging' OR 'diffusion tensor imaging' OR 'diffusion MRI' OR 'diffusion-weighted imaging' OR 'tractography' in the abstract, article title and keywords. A total of 336 publications were analysed using Harzing's Publish or Perish and VOSviewer software.

RESULTS

The results revealed an upward trend in the number of publications with the highest number of articles in 2020 and 2022. Most publications were limited to countries, authors, and institutions in the USA, China and Europe. Bracht, Coenen, Wiest, Federspiel and Feng were among the top authors from Switzerland, Germany and the UK. , , and the were the top journals. Among the top articles, six were reviews and four were original articles, while the top keywords in human reward research were 'diffusion MRI', 'adolescence', 'depression' and 'reward-related brain areas'.

CONCLUSION

These findings may serve as researchers' references to find collaborative authors, relevant journals, cooperative countries/institutions, and hot topics related to dMRI and reward research.