Hotspots and trends in fNIRS disease research: A bibliometric analysis

Abstract

ObjectiveTo summarize the general information and hotspots of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based clinical disease research over the past 10 years and provide some references for future research.MethodsThe related literature published between 1 January 2011 and 31 January 2022 was retrieved from the Web of Science core database (WoS). Bibliometric visualization analysis of countries/regions, institutions, authors, journals, keywords and references were conducted by using CiteSpace 6.1.R3.ResultsA total of 467 articles were included, and the annual number of articles published over nearly a decade showed an upward trend year-by-year. These articles mainly come from 39 countries/regions and 280 institutions. The representative country and institution were the USA and the University of Tubingen. We identified 266 authors, among which Andreas J Fallgatter and Ann-Christine Ehlis were the influential authors. Neuroimage was the most co-cited journal. The major topics in fNIRS disease research included activation, prefrontal cortex, working memory, cortex, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In recent years, the Frontier topics were executive function, functional connectivity, performance, diagnosis, Alzheimer’s disease, children, and adolescents. Based on the burst of co-cited references, gait research has received much attention.ConclusionThis study conducted a comprehensive, objective, and visual analysis of publications, and revealed the status of relevant studies, hot topics, and trends concerning fNIRS disease research from 2011 to 2022. It is hoped that this work would help researchers to identify new perspectives on potential collaborators, important topics, and research Frontiers.

The most fundamental and popular literature on functional near-infrared spectroscopy: a bibliometric analysis of the top 100 most cited articles

“…Xiangyin Ye et al revealed the overview, hot spots and trends of fNIRS-based clinical disease research from 2011 to 2022; they found that cutting-edge topics include executive function, functional connectivity, Alzheimer’s disease, gait research, etc. ( 42 ). And our focus of this research is primarily on analyzing the 100 highly cited articles to identify the authors, institutions, nations, etc.…”

“…In addition to renaming of some journal, we have used the original journal name in the Results section and reported the IF for 2023. (42). And our focus of this research is primarily on analyzing the 100 highly cited articles to identify the authors, institutions, nations, etc.…”

From Lab to Life: Challenges and Perspectives of fNIRS for Hemodynamic-based Neurofeedback in Real-World Environments

“…The innovation of fMRI made it possible to provide neurofeedback information from a more locally specific brain region of interest (ROI) [10]. Since its introduction, research has primarily focused on further developing the fMRI neurofeedback method, which ultimately led to this technique now being used in first clinical trials with the aim of demonstrating its effectiveness for patient populations [11][12][13][14][15]. However, the inherent limitations of fMRI, particularly its significant cost, overall complexity, and immobility, represent significant barriers to widespread application of fMRI neurofeedback and reduce the prospects for its future integration into routine clinical practice.…”

Facilitating or disturbing? An investigation about the effects of auditory frequencies on prefrontal cortex activation and postural sway

“…Further investigation of this aspect could be crucial, especially in the clinical context where the early identification of cognitive deficits could be crucial for the realization of appropriate and timely interventions. In addition, clinicians should consider auditory cues and hearing loss in balance and fall-risk assessments to design tailored rehabilitation strategies, In the last 20 years, functional Near-InfraRed Spectroscopy (fNIRS) opened new fields of real-world neuroscience ( Vidal-Rosas et al, 2023 ): fNIRS has been extensively applied in cognitive neuroscience in disease research ( Ye et al, 2023 ) and in the field of gait and posture ( Menant et al, 2020 ), considering its low susceptibility to motion artifacts ( Stuart et al, 2018 ; Quaresima and Ferrari, 2019 ; Bishnoi et al, 2021 ; Yücel et al, 2021 ) and reliability ( Stuart et al, 2019 ; Ayaz et al, 2022 ). fNIRS is a non-invasive vascular-based technique that enables real-time detection of concentration changes in oxygenated (O 2 Hb) and deoxygenated (HHb) hemoglobin of the cerebral microcirculation blood vessels.…”