Unravelling interdisciplinary interactions and researcher migration across the evolution of perovskite solar cell research through comprehensive bibliometrics.

From 2009 to 2023, over 20 000 papers have been published on perovskite solar cells (PeSCs), highlighting the significant academic interest and research activity in this field. This exponential growth in research stems from the integration of various established research areas. Additionally, advancements in PeSCs have had a reciprocal influence on other technologies. Therefore, understanding the inflows and outflows of knowledge across the PeSC field is essential to fully grasp its intellectual landscape. However, no systematic bibliometric analyses have been conducted to address these dynamics. In this study, we performed a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to examine the development and thematic evolution of PeSC research. Our approach included analysing citation relationships, tracking publication trends in PeSC-related fields, identifying highly cited papers (HCPs) and mapping keywords and collaboration networks. A key aspect of our study was identifying researchers who have made significant contributions to the PeSC research community. We initially identified individuals who published 10 or more HCPs between 2009 and 2021, classifying them as PeSC highly cited researchers (PeSC-HCRs). We then employed social network analysis to explore their research activities from 2005 to 2022, using author keywords to track thematic trends. To ensure a structured analysis, we categorized all publications by publication year and InCites citation topics, allowing us to detect shifts in research priorities and the emergence of new subdisciplines over time. Furthermore, we investigated evolving patterns of collaboration among PeSC-HCRs, providing insights into how collaboration networks have influenced the development and diversification of the PeSC field. This analytical approach offers a novel perspective on the study of emerging technologies and is the first of its kind applied to PeSC research. The insights gained from this study can serve as a foundation for forecasting the developmental trajectories of other emerging technologies in the future.