The global research trends on health risk perception and communication: a bibliometric study and visualization analysis

Background: It is meaningful that both scholars and practitioners recognize the multifaceted nature of health risk perception and communication (HRPC). Extensive studies related to HRPC have been conducted to date. However, no bibliometric analysis has systematically investigated this issue. We aim to identify the current landscape and frontier trends of scientific achievements on HRPC through bibliometric approaches. Methods: Quantitative analysis of publications relating to HRPC from 1999 to 2021 was interpreted and graphed through the Web of Science Core Collection database on October 21, 2022. A variety of quantitative variables was analyzed, including publication and citation counts, H-index, and journal citation reports. Co-authorship, citation, co-citation, and co-occurrence analyses were performed for countries/regions, institutions, authors, and keywords using the VOSviewer and CiteSpace. Results: A total of 1,518 original and review articles in English were identified. The United States has considerable influence in this field, with the majority of publications (772, 50.86%), citations (23,951 times), the highest H-index (453), and close collaborations with the United Kingdom and Australia. The most contributive institution was University of North Carolina. The most productive author is Waters EA, followed by Lemyre L and Renner B. However, the relatively low level of research cooperation existed between institutions and authors. Important topics mainly include the connotations, categories, theoretical framework models, and application scenarios of HRPC. Among the promising hotspots, 'Covid-19,' 'pandemic', 'vaccine hesitancy', 'social media', 'e-cigarettes', and 'mental health' displayed relatively latest average appearing year. Conclusion: Global trends indicate a growing scientific output on HRPC, and developed countries are leading the way. There is still a need to improve collaboration between research teams. The focus gradually shifts from theoretical research to empirical research. It is recommended to pay attention to the latest hot spots, such as 'Covid-19', 'vaccine hesitancy', 'social media', 'e-cigarettes', and 'mental health'.