A bibliometric analysis of Fuzzy Optimization and Decision Making (2002–2017)

Fuzzy Optimization and Decision Making (FODM) is one of the influential journals in the research field of computer science and operation research, which was found in 2002. In this study, 370 publications published in FODM during 2002 and 2017 were retrieved from the Scopus database, and bibliometric methods are applied to analyze the structure of the FODM journal. First, general statistical analysis based on the number of publications and citations was implemented to find the annual publishing trends, citation structures, most cited publications, and productive authors/institutions/countries/territories. Second, the co-citation networks of cited authors/sources/references were generated; the nodes, links, and total link strengths based on the visualized networks are used to analyze citation connections. Next, to detect the development of the research topics, the co-occurrence networks of keywords of the different stages were illustrated, and the burst detection of keywords is used to identify the emerging topics. Finally, the future challenges of the FODM journal are discussed according to the process and findings of our study. This study provides a systematic and objective view of the FODM journal, which can be helpful for scholars to understand the development and the research structure of this journal.