Examining the usage, citation, and diffusion patterns of bibliometric mapping software: A comparative study of three tools

This study investigates the use, citation and diffusion of three bibliometric mapping software tools (CiteSpace, HistCite and VOSviewer) in scientific papers. We first conduct a content analysis of a sample of 481 English core journal papers—i.e., papers from journals deemed central to their respective disciplines—in which at least one of these tools is mentioned. This allows us to understand the predominant mention and citation practices surrounding these tools. We then employ several diffusion indicators to gain insight into the diffusion patterns of the three software tools. Overall, we find that researchers mention and cite the tools in diverse ways, many of which fall short of a traditional formal citation. Our results further indicate a clear upward trend in the use of all three tools, though VOSviewer is more frequently used than CiteSpace or HistCite. We also find that these three software tools have seen the fastest and most widespread adoption in library and information science research, where the tools originated. They have since been gradually adopted in other areas of study, initially at a lower diffusion speed but afterward at a rapidly growing rate.