Lazo Yoslandy, Crawford Broderick, Cisternas-Caneo Felipe, Barrera-Garcia José, Soto Ricardo, Giachetti Giovanni
Escuela de Ingeniería Informática, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Avenida Brasil 2241, Valparaíso 2362807, Chile.
Escuela de Negocios y Economía, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Amunátegui 1838, Viña del Mar 2580129, Chile.
Biomimetics (Basel). 2025 Aug 7;10(8):517. doi: 10.3390/biomimetics10080517.
The balance between exploration and exploitation is a fundamental element in the design and performance of bio-inspired optimization algorithms. However, to date, its conceptual evolution and its treatment in the scientific literature have not been systematically characterized from a bibliometric approach. This study performs an exhaustive analysis of the scientific production on the balance between exploration and exploitation using records extracted from the Web of Science (WoS) database. The processing and analysis of the data were carried out through the combined use of Bibliometrix (R package) and VOSviewer, tools that made it possible to quantify productivity, map collaborative networks, and visualize emerging thematic trends. The results show a sustained growth in the volume of publications over the last decade, as well as the consolidation of academic collaboration networks and the emergence of new thematic lines in the field. In particular, metaheuristic algorithms have demonstrated a significant and growing impact, constituting a fundamental pillar in the advancement and methodological diversification of the exploration-exploitation balance. This work provides a quantitative framework and a structured view of the evolution of research, identifies the main actors and trends, and raises opportunities for future lines of research in the field of optimization using metaheuristics, the most prominent instantiation of bio-inspired optimization algorithms.
探索与利用之间的平衡是生物启发式优化算法设计与性能的一个基本要素。然而，迄今为止，从文献计量学的角度来看，其概念演变以及在科学文献中的论述尚未得到系统的刻画。本研究利用从科学网（WoS）数据库提取的记录，对关于探索与利用之间平衡的科研成果进行了详尽分析。数据的处理与分析是通过结合使用Bibliometrix（R包）和VOSviewer来进行的，这些工具使得量化生产力、绘制合作网络以及可视化新出现的主题趋势成为可能。结果表明，在过去十年中出版物数量持续增长，学术合作网络得以巩固，该领域也出现了新的主题方向。特别是，元启发式算法已展现出显著且不断增长的影响力，成为探索 - 利用平衡的推进和方法多样化的一个基本支柱。这项工作提供了一个关于研究演变的定量框架和结构化视角，识别了主要参与者和趋势，并为使用元启发式算法（生物启发式优化算法最突出的实例）进行优化领域的未来研究方向提供了机会。
