Bibliometrix is an open-source R tool for quantitative analysis of scientific literature. It supports descriptive analysis, co-citation and co-authorship studies, keyword co-occurrence, thematic mapping, and historiographic networks. It can process bibliographic files from Web of Science, Scopus, Dimensions, The Lens, PubMed, and the Cochrane Library. Companion R packages provide API connections to Dimensions, NCBI PubMed, and Scopus, while openalexR can bring OpenAlex publication, author, institution, and concept metadata into bibliometrix structures. Biblioshiny offers a web interface for people who do not know R or coding, and the core package can work alongside other statistical R packages. Biblioverse packages extend its use to data collection and text and content analysis. Stable releases are distributed through CRAN; installing bibliometrix and Biblioshiny requires R. The GitHub beta is updated daily and may have minor bugs. PubMed exports lack citation and reference-list metadata, so they cannot support citation, bibliographic coupling, or co-citation links. Access to Web of Science and Scopus services requires a subscription. It is free, with a listed price of 0.00 USD per free.
Who it is for
It suits academics, PhD students, and research institutions working with bibliographic data. Biblioshiny may suit users who prefer a web interface and do not know R or coding.
What is good
- Free, open-source R package available through CRAN
- Analyzes co-authorship, keywords, themes, and citation links
- Biblioshiny provides a web interface without coding knowledge
- Works with six named bibliographic data sources
- Can incorporate OpenAlex metadata through openalexR
What to know first
- Installing bibliometrix and Biblioshiny requires R
- PubMed exports cannot support citation or co-citation links
- Web of Science and Scopus service access requires subscriptions
- The daily-updated GitHub beta may contain minor bugs
Verdict
Bibliometrix combines literature analysis methods with several bibliographic sources and R-based extensions. Check the PubMed metadata limitation and database subscription requirements against your intended sources.
Bibliometrix plans and pricing
All plansCompared on literature review software
- Free plan
- Yes
- Discovery tools
- search
- Full-text management
- Yes
- Systematic review tools
- Yes
- Evidence mapping
- Yes
