![]() We used the VOSviewer 1.6.18 to analyze the keywords, and we selected the first 1,000 keywords as our analysis objectives to study the etiology. We used the CiteSpace 5.8.R3, and set link retaining factor = 2 Look Back Years = 8 Year Per Slice = 3 Selection Criteria = Top50 Prunning method: pathfinder, pruning sliced networks, and pruning the merged network. As for the types of articles, we include reviews and articles and exclude meeting abstracts, letters, book reviews, etc. We searched the WoS with the method: TS = (autism OR autistic OR “Kanner syndrome” OR “Asperger syndrome” OR “pervasive developmental disorders” OR “child disintegrative disorder” NOT “Rett's disorder”), and the time is from the establishment of the database to Decem(search date: January 2, 2022). The article data comes from the science citation index expanded (SCI-E) database on WoS. This paper quantitatively analyzes the research characteristics of ASD research in the past 20 years, and preliminarily analyzes the research trend of ASD, in order to help the follow-up ASD research work. Therefore, this study used CiteSpace and VOSviewer, combined with bibliometric methods, systematically evaluate the articles on ASD research in the Web of Science (WoS) from 1998 to 2021, focusing on the publishing trend, authors, institutions, countries, published journals, cited articles, research keywords, keywords about etiology and diagnostic markers, and keywords with the strongest citation bursts detection in this research field. However, previous studies on bibliometrics of ASD mostly focused on a specific field or used a single software ( 15– 17). ASD is the hot spot of current research, and there are some related relevant bibliometric articles. And the VOSviewer also has advantages in bibliometrics analysis. The CiteSpace is an excellent bibliometrics tool, which can intuitively reveal the potential relationship between papers in the form of a scientific knowledge map ( 14). ![]() At present, bibliometrics, combining mathematical and statistical methods, can evaluate the current situation and future research trends in a field and can guide the follow-up research work ( 13). Quantitative analysis of ASD research results, combing the historical development of ASD research, analyzing the research hotspots of ASD, and exploring the high studied etiology and diagnostic markers of ASD have some enlightenment for predicting its research trend. In the United States (USA), it is predicted that the annual medical and non-medical costs of ASD will reach 500 billion US dollars by 2025 ( 12).Īlthough the prevalence of ASD is increasing gradually, ASD is still one of the frontier problems in scientific research, especially etiology research. In addition, ASD currently lacks specific diagnostic markers and targeted treatment methods, which causes a greater economic burden to individuals, their families, and society ( 11). Nearly three-fourths of ASD patients have more than 16 medical, mental, or neurological diseases, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disorder, self-injurious behavior, and sleep disorder, making it the main cause of mental disability in children under 5 years old ( 9, 10). Generally speaking, there are more males than females in ASD patients, and the ratio is about 3–4:1 ( 8). The increasing prevalence of ASD may be related to the improvement of knowledge and awareness and the change of the diagnostic criteria, which covers a wider range of diseases. The study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 11 locations in 2018 shows that there is 1 ASD patient in every 44 8-year-old children ( 7). Data collected worldwide in 2001 show that the prevalence of ASD has increased from 0.7 to 1.0% since the 1990s ( 6), and more data show that its prevalence is gradually increasing in recent years. Patients usually begin to show symptoms from 6 to 24 months, and some patients grow normally early but appear degenerative changes and loss of language and social skills from 24 to 36 months ( 2– 5). It includes 4 previous generalized developmental disorders, namely autism disorder, Asperger's syndrome, Heller's disease, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). ![]() Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an early-onset, chronic, and heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social and communication disorders, a narrow range of interests, and restrictive, repetitive, or stereotyped behavior ( 1).
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