A bibliometric analysis of micro/nano-bubble related research: current trends, present application, and future prospects

With great versatile characteristics, micro/nano-bubble related research have attracted much attention due to their extensive applications in the last half century. Researchers not merely focus on their physi-chemical properties, but also aim at their well-controlled generation methods and potential adhibition field. It can be expected that the future prospects of micro/nano-bubble related research will be tremendous and that there will be even more to be explored. In this case study, a bibliometric analysis was conducted to evaluate micro/nano-bubble related research from 1991 to 2014, based on the Science Citation Index EXPANDED database. The Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology with the highest h-index of 56 is the leading journal in this field, publishing 6.9 % of articles over this period, followed by Langmuir and Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. USA and the Univ Toronto, Canada were the most productive country and institution, respectively, while the USA, was the most internationally collaborative and had the highest h-index (111) of all countries. A new method named “word cluster analysis” was successfully applied to trace the research hotspots. Innovation in detection means and novel pathways for medical applications via micro/nano-bubble is considered to relate to the increasingly new types and varieties of diseases or cancers, as well as the well-controlled generation of micro/nano-bubbles.