Global nuclear fuel research during 2000 to 2017: A scientometric analysis

Abstract

A scientometric analysis of global nuclear fuel research has been carried out for the years from 2000 to 2017 based on various scientometric indicators such as: publication output, prolific authors, collaboration networks of authors, productive institutions involved, the hot research topics and the citation pattern. A total of 7,402 bibliographic records from the Web of Science core collection database were taken as a data source and analyzed using CiteSpace and VOSviewer software. The analysis indicated that half of the publications (4166; 56%) were published in during 2011 to 2017 and the year 2017 had the highest number of publications (679; 9%) and the most significant developments in nuclear fuel research is from USA, France, South Korea and Germany. A significant contribution has been made from Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. Keywords analysis indicated that, spent nuclear fuel, uranium, spent fuel and plutonium are commonly used.