Science mapping analysis software tools: A review

Abstract

Scientific articles are one of the most important types of output of a researcher. In that sense, bibliometrics is an essential tool for assessing and analyzing academic research output contributing to the progress of science in many different ways. It provides objective criteria to assess research developed by researchers, being increasingly valued as a tool for measuring scholarly quality and productivity. Science mapping is a bibliometric tool to analyze and mine scientific output. The aim of this chapter is to present a thorough review of science mapping software tools, showing strengths and limitations. Six software tools that meet the criteria of being free, full, and allowing the whole analysis to be performed are analyzed: BibExcelCiteSpace IICitNetExplorerSciMATSci 2 ToolVOSviewer. This analysis describes aspects related to data processing, analysis options, and visualization. The particular properties of each tool that allows us to analyze the science are presented, the choice of a particular tool one depends on the type of actor to be analyzed and the output expected.