The maturation of a field: A bibliometric analysis of disinformation prevention research trends (2014–2024)

Abstract

Disinformation prevention has become a critical field of research, significantly catalyzed by the COVID-19 "infodemic". This study provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to map the intellectual structure and evolution of this rapidly expanding field. We analyzed 2,124 articles published from 2014 to 2024, retrieved from the Scopus database. Publication trends, subject distribution, and keyword co-occurrence were analyzed using VOSviewer to identify thematic clusters and temporal shifts. Publication output was negligible until a major inflection point in 2020, surging to a peak of 506 articles in 2022 and rebounding to a new high of 515 in 2024 after a 2023 dip. The field is dominated by three core disciplines: Social Sciences (24.40%), Medicine (24.20%), and Computer Science (10.21%). VOSviewer network analysis revealed two dominant, interconnected thematic clusters: a "Public Health and Vaccine Behavior" cluster (centered on covid, health, and vaccine hesitancy) and a "Media and Disinformation" cluster (centered on medium and fake news). Temporal overlay analysis confirmed the field's evolution from older topics (platforms like twitter) to the central crisis (covid) and finally to emerging, solution-oriented topics (media literacy). The findings conclude that disinformation research, forged in a public health crisis, rests on an interdisciplinary foundation of medicine, social science, and technology. The field is demonstrably maturing, showing a sophisticated scholarly pivot from reactive strategies (fact checking) toward proactive, cognitive interventions such as media literacy to build long-term societal resilience.