The analysis of research hotspots and fronts of knowledge visualization based on CiteSpace II

Abstract

This research aims at revealing the hotspots and development trends of the field of knowledge visualization. With the aid of CiteSpace, a kind of information visualization software, articles themed by "knowledge visualization" and published in the database of web of science between 2000 and 2011 were analyzed. Hotspots and development trends are concluded based on the visual knowledge map generated by CiteSpace and analyses of key articles to provide meaningful and valuable reference for further study in the field. The study indicates that researches mainly focus on technologies, representation forms, applications and theories of knowledge visualization. Besides, researches in this field have transferred from basic ideas and techniques to further and complex techniques and applications in recent five years. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.