Bibliometric Analysis of Studies on Child Abuse and Negligence

Abstract

The aim of the research is to determine and analyze the research trends of studies on child abuse and neglect from a bibliometric perspective. The data of the study were obtained by using the SCOPUS database on 04.12.2022 without any year limitation. The research was searched using the keywords "child", "maltreatment", "abuse", "neglect", "violence" "physical abuse", "emotional abuse",. "sexual abuse", "physical neglect", "emotional neglect". As a result of the search, 97.703 studies were reached. 84.376 studies that were not related to the subject and included different disciplines were excluded. Within the scope of the study, 13.327 research articles covering psychology, social sciences and nursing disciplines were evaluated. VOSviewer, a mapping and visualization program, was used in the analysis of the data. It was determined that the most frequently used keywords related to the subject were “Child abuse” and “Child maltreatment”. It was determined that the countries, universities and journals with the highest number of publications were in Unites States (59.54%), and author collaborations were mostly made in the USA, England and Australia. However, it is predicted that the estimated number of studies will be 1407 in 2030. Bibliometric indicators show that studies on child abuse and neglect have increased considerably in recent years. In this context, distinguishing whether the factors causing the increase are related to increased awareness or abuse and neglect will guide the planning of protective preventive interventions.