The role of forensic anthropologist in mass disaster: a bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Mass disasters often claim many lives, and it is the response of the disaster victim identification team to recover and identify the deceased effectively in order to bring closure to the families and to reduce the time and cost of the operation. However, the role of forensic anthropologists in mass disasters is not often recognized during the early phase of disaster and results in delays in identification. The main objective of this dissertation is to analyse the publication related to the role of forensic anthropologists in mass disasters. Articles were searched from the Scopus database and analysed through R script with biblioshiny and Microsoft Excel. A total of 139 articles were analysed for publication trends. The results include analysis of publication, citation, authors’ affiliation, authors’ collaboration and authors’ production over time from 1989 to 2024. Overall, the results revealed significant clusters of publications over the years, suggesting a gradual upward trend in mass disaster research. The increasing trend of publications indicates the rise in recognition of forensic anthropologists’ contribution to mass disasters.