VOSviewer-Assisted Citation Analysis
Also known as: citation analysis with VOSviewer, VOSviewer citation mapping, visual citation analysis, VOSviewer-based citation network analysis
VOSviewer-assisted citation analysis combines established citation analysis methodology with the visual mapping capabilities of VOSviewer, a free bibliometric software developed at Leiden University. Researchers export bibliographic records from databases such as Web of Science or Scopus, import them into VOSviewer, and generate citation networks that reveal which documents, authors, or journals are most influential and how intellectual influence flows across a field.
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Method map
The neighbourhood of related methods — select a node to explore.
When to use it
Use VOSviewer-assisted citation analysis when you need to map the intellectual structure of a research field, identify foundational literature, or trace how knowledge has accumulated and diffused. It is ideal for systematic or scoping reviews that include a bibliometric component, and for research-front detection in established fields with sufficient citation data. The method requires a corpus of at least 100–200 documents with citation information; below that threshold, networks are too sparse for meaningful clustering. Do not use it when the field is very new (few citations exist), when the database coverage for your domain is poor (e.g., humanities in Web of Science), or when the research goal is qualitative understanding of content rather than structural influence patterns. It is a descriptive, exploratory tool — it reveals structure but does not test hypotheses.
Strengths & limitations
- Produces intuitive, publication-ready visual maps of citation networks without requiring programming skills.
- Handles large corpora (tens of thousands of documents) efficiently with a free, openly available tool.
- Supports multiple units of analysis — documents, authors, sources, keywords — using the same workflow.
- Complements qualitative review by providing an objective, data-driven overview of field structure.
- Temporal overlay feature enables tracking of how citation influence has shifted across time periods.
- Results are constrained by database coverage — fields underrepresented in Web of Science or Scopus (e.g., humanities, grey literature) produce incomplete networks.
- Citation counts conflate positive, negative, and perfunctory citations; the method cannot distinguish supportive from critical citation practices.
- The VOS clustering algorithm's resolution parameter requires a subjective choice that can meaningfully change the cluster structure reported.
- Highly cited older documents dominate network maps, which can obscure newer, emerging work with fewer accumulated citations.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between citation analysis and co-citation analysis in VOSviewer?
Citation analysis maps direct citation relationships — document A cites document B. Co-citation analysis identifies documents that are frequently cited together by the same later works, inferring intellectual similarity from shared citation patterns. VOSviewer supports both; citation analysis better reveals influence chains and hierarchy, while co-citation analysis better reveals intellectual proximity and thematic clusters.
How many documents do I need for a meaningful VOSviewer citation map?
A practical minimum is around 100–200 documents with citation data. With fewer records, the network is too sparse and clusters are unreliable. For robust field mapping, corpora of 500–5,000 documents are typical; VOSviewer handles tens of thousands efficiently, so there is no meaningful upper limit beyond database export constraints.
Can I combine Web of Science and Scopus exports in VOSviewer?
Yes, and it is often advisable. VOSviewer accepts both formats. Combining databases improves coverage, especially for multidisciplinary topics. You should deduplicate the merged dataset (by DOI or title matching) before importing, as duplicate records inflate citation counts and distort the network.
Does VOSviewer require a paid license?
No. VOSviewer is free software available at vosviewer.com. A Java runtime is required. The databases used for export (Web of Science, Scopus) typically require institutional subscriptions, but the VOSviewer software itself is freely downloadable and has no usage restrictions for academic research.
How should I choose the minimum citation threshold in VOSviewer?
The threshold filters out documents with fewer than a specified number of citations. A common default is 5 citations, but this is not universal. For older, established fields a threshold of 10–20 may be appropriate; for recent or emerging fields a threshold of 2–3 prevents excluding valid recent work. Always report the threshold you used and its effect on corpus size in your methods section.
Sources
- van Eck, N. J., & Waltman, L. (2010). Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics, 84(2), 523–538. DOI: 10.1007/s11192-009-0146-3 ↗
- Garfield, E. (1972). Citation analysis as a tool in journal evaluation. Science, 178(4060), 471–479. DOI: 10.1126/science.178.4060.471 ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 3). VOSviewer-Assisted Citation Analysis. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/scientometrics/vosviewer-assisted-citation-analysis
Which method?
Set this method beside its closest kin and read them side by side — the library lays the books on the table; the choice is yours.
- Bibliographic CouplingBibliometrics↔ compare
- Bibliometric AnalysisScientometrics↔ compare
- Citation AnalysisResearch Skills↔ compare
- Co-Citation AnalysisBibliometrics↔ compare
- Science MappingBibliometrics↔ compare
- VOSviewer-assisted co-citation analysisScientometrics↔ compare