Projected Futures: An In-Depth Analysis of Emerging Nuclear Fusion Technologies

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Nuclear Fusion, Bibliometrics, Topic Analysis, Emerging Topics, Projected Futures

2 Deputy of Research and Technology Department, National Research Institute for Science Policy (NRISP), Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Physics and Energy Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran

Abstract
This research aims to examine the nuclear fusion technology field using the intellectual structure drawing technique. It is worth mentioning that the reason for focusing on this area, atomic fusion, is its peaceful applications and unlimited fuel to generate power. The proposed strategy in this paper includes all the keywords related to the research topic. VOS viewer and R Studio software were employed for data analysis. In addition, the principal research topics were extracted and classified using scientific maps. This analysis indicates the intellectual structure of the topic, which is grouped into four fundamental clusters using citation networks. This study additionally identifies emerging issues and future research directions implementing strategic diagrams. Another aspect of this study that reveals the intellectual foundation of the research is that it provides insights into the importance of crucial topics, institutions, and publications in terms of the field's focus and the results obtained from the analysis of the period 1991-2023. It informs that the conceptual evolution of nuclear fusion and its growth is proceeding.
 

Keywords

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Volume 22, Issue 4
Autumn 2024
Pages 57-77

  • Receive Date 14 February 2024
  • Revise Date 28 September 2024
  • Accept Date 28 September 2024