Exploring the past, present, and future of the mindfulness field: A multitechnique bibliometric review

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the mindfulness literature up until the end of 2020 by (a) uncovering its underlying intellectual structure, (b) identifying the most influential and popular themes, and (c) presenting new directions for future research on mindfulness. To this end, a systematic quantitative review based on bibliometric methods was conducted, which is perhaps less prone to researcher bias and can complement existing meta-analyses and qualitative (narrative) structured reviews as an objective approach. Three bibliometric techniques—document co-citation analysis, co-word (co-occurrence and content) analysis, and bibliographic coupling—were applied to explore the past, present, and future of mindfulness research. The co-citation analysis showed that measurement, mechanisms, mindfulness-based interventions, and examinations of the efficacy of mindfulness interventions are among the key theoretical knowledge bases from which the field of mindfulness is derived. The content analysis demonstrated the beneficial effects of mindfulness meditation for physical and mental health conditions. The bibliographic coupling revealed novel directions in cognitive behavioral therapy, emotion regulation, the application of mindfulness practice to children and adolescents, mindfulness at work, and the role of mindfulness in positive psychology. The large sample of articles that was analyzed allowed us to provide a broader and more objective overview than possible with other forms of literature reviews. The combination of the three bibliometric techniques granted deeper insights into the complex multidisciplinary field of mindfulness, along with specific suggestions for future research.

Multiple teams, multiple projects, multiple groups at the intersection of (multiple) research fields: A bibliometric study

“…One notable strength of the bibliometric approach is that is has the potential to uncover existing gaps in a particular research field and guide directions for future research (Bunjak et al, 2022). While focusing our analysis on both documents and journals we obtained a comprehensive picture of how the concept of multi-teaming is represented across different fields, given that journals are categorized as belonging to different disciplines.…”

“…To minimize this issue we followed guidelines from previous studies (e.g., Batistič and van der Laken, 2019) and explored the impact of the selection of different thresholds on the results and we did not substantially differentiate. Nonetheless, the authors suggest that regardless of the threshold, the most important documents are included (e.g., due to high citation count), and clusters grouping from one analysis is reflected also in others, acknowledging the most important aspect of providing an accurate and comprehensive visualization of the research field in question (Bunjak et al, 2022).…”

“…Additionally, some bibliometric software, like in our case VOSviewer, does not provide the possibility to supplement the visualization with calculated network indexes as with standard network analysis. This leaves the interpretation of the cluster to visual inspection and their composition, yet the size, position and related visual elements (e.g., the distance between documents) provide the research with a clear idea of the most impactful studies and clusters (Batistič and van der Laken, 2019;van Eck and Waltman, 2019;Bunjak et al, 2022).…”

Relationship between stress and coronary artery disease: A comprehensive review

“…The sample size may need to be more significant to generalize findings Study [13] Environmental Demonstrated a clear link between access to green environments and reduced stress-related CAD risk Potential self-selection bias in participants choosing green areas Study [14] Lifestyle Highlighted the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction programs in reducing stress and CAD risk Challenges in long-term adherence to lifestyle interventions…”

Knowledge development visualization and mapping path of the psychological capital research

“…The bibliometric approach provides a relatively complete network diagram of relationships ( Li et al, 2020 ; Wang et al, 2020 ; Li and Xu, 2021 ), and measures the influence of authors, journals, institutions, and regions ( Baumgartner and Pieters, 2003 ; Willett, 2007 ; Zhou et al, 2018 ), and detects classic literature and research hotspots ( Su et al, 2021 ). For example, to show the knowledge mapping of Mobile learning and humanistic education research ( Koon, 2022 ), present a visual analysis of research on digital transformation ( Shi et al, 2022 ), display the research progress on innovation in the field of social capital ( Gu et al, 2022 ), explore the development trend and frontier of sustainable logistics and supply chain ( Wang et al, 2022 ), excavate the past, present, and future of the mindfulness field ( Bunjak et al, 2022 ). It is also used to analyze the distribution and development of all literature within a given journal: To show the research progress of Mechanism and Machine Theory Journal from 1990–2020 ( Flores, 2022 ), to summarize the research in the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management ( Kumar P. et al, 2022 ), to explore the emerging topic of European Management Journal ( Bhukya et al, 2022 ).…”