Objective To conduct a visual analysis of the research dynamics, hotspots, and frontiers in field epidemiology in China from 2014 to 2024, providing a reference for research planning in this domain.
Methods The literature on field epidemiology in China that was published in Chinese and English between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2024 was retrieved from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), SinoMed, Web of Science Core Collection, and PubMed. CiteSpace 6.3.R1 was employed to visualize the annual publication trend, author and institution collaboration networks, and keywords. Research hotspots and frontiers were systematically reviewed.
Results A total of 8 475 articles (7 845 in Chinese and 630 in English) were included. The annual number of publications in Chinese and English increased from 638 and 25 in 2014 to 728 and 66 in 2024, respectively. From 2014 to 2024, the annual number of publications in English that were published by Chinese authors showed an overall upward trend (β = 6.000, t = 4.861, P < 0.001), while that in Chinese rose with large fluctuations (β = 14.564, t = 1.456, P = 0.179). The most frequent category was infectious diseases (4 013 articles). Academic journals were the primary publication format (6 891 articles). Regarding methodological applications, descriptive studies (3 260 articles) were mainly used for spatiotemporal distribution analysis of infectious diseases and characterization of chemical poisoning incidents. Case-control studies (2 481 articles) were primarily applied in tracing foodborne illnesses and analyzing occupational exposure associations. Cohort studies (1 160 articles) were commonly conducted to investigate the impact of vaccination history on disease incidence. Cross-sectional surveys (398 articles) were frequently employed in nutritional status censuses. Molecular source-tracing techniques (127 articles) were predominantly utilized in studies of foodborne pathogens. In author and institution collaboration networks, high-yield authors of publications in Chinese were Wang H, Ye Y, Huang X, etc., and those in English were Zhang Y, Wang L, Wang Y, etc. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention occupied a central position in both Chinese and English publication networks. Keyword co-occurrence analysis revealed large nodes for “epidemiological characteristics,” “outbreak,” and “food poisoning” in Chinese publications and for “disease outbreaks,” “public health surveillance,” “risk factors,” etc. in English publications. Keyword clustering analysis showed that in Chinese publications, Clusters #11 (outbreak), #14 (outbreak epidemic), and #5 (investigation analysis) formed a methodological loop from event identification to field response and source attribution. Clusters #10 (clustering) and #9 (family clusters) highlighted households and communities as key transmission settings. Co-occurrence of #6 (tuberculosis) and #3 (pulmonary tuberculosis) indicated continued focus on classical respiratory diseases, emphasizing pathogen control. In English publications, Clusters #1 (betacoronavirus), #4 (communicable diseases), and #8 (pulmonary tuberculosis) formed a triangular co-occurrence cluster. Clusters #3 (disease outbreaks), #6 (disease outbreaks), #0 (case control studies), and #2 (risk factors) systematically mapped the emergency response pathway from outbreak detection and case-control studies to risk factor identification, reflecting the systematization of public health emergency response. Clusters #12 (occupational disease) and #10 (noise) indicated occupational noise exposure as a current research focus. Keyword burst detection identified COVID-19, mpox, and mpox virus as emerging hotspots in Chinese publications, and spatio-temporal analysis and disease outbreaks in English publications.
Conclusions The studies of field epidemiology in China exhibits an upward trend and is gradually extending towards practical applications.
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