A bibliometric analysis of artificial intelligence publications from 1991 to 2018

This study aimed to analyze the characteristics of artificial intelligence-related publications in Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIEXPANDED) from 1991 to 2018. The analyzed aspects covered distribution of annual publications, citations per publication, journals, Web of Science categories, countries, institutions, as well as research foci and their trends. A total of 13,251 artificial intelligence-related articles were found. Articles were published in a wide range of journals and Web of Science categories. The United States took the lead position in total, single country, international collaboration, and first, corresponding, and single author articles as well as citations per publication among 119 countries. Chinese Academy of Sciences in China, Islamic Azad University in Iran, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in USA were the three most productive institutions. MIT had higher citations per publication. An international collaborative article by authors from Canada, the United States, and Switzerland was the most frequently cited article with the most total citations from Web of Science Core Collection since publication through the end of 2018. Results from word cluster analysis showed that models, neural networks, learning, and prediction were the most popular topics and features, classification, and optimization might be focus in artificial intelligence research.