Airborne transmission and control of respiratory infectious diseases in different scenarios: A bibliometric study

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 has drawn public awareness to the transmission of respiratory infectious diseases. To better comprehend the developments and trends in research on the transmission mechanism of respiratory infectious diseases in the air, the publications in the Web of Science Core Collection database from 2017 to 2023 were utilized to reveal critical information. Herein, the yearly quantitative distribution and the geographical distribution of publications were analysed using a bibliometric method and information visualization technology. In addition, this study focused on the airborne transmission characteristics and influencing factors of respiratory infectious diseases. Research directions in different scenarios were innovatively extracted and the main measures to reduce the infection risk were summarized. Furthermore, some future work suggestions were given. The findings of this study provide several implications that can serve as guidelines for new and experienced researchers to establish a basic framework before initiating future research projects.