Aggression in psychiatry: a bibliometric analysis

Abstract Background Aggression is a common problem in psychiatric clinics, and many studies have been conducted on the issue over the years. This study bibliometrically examines the characteristics and trends of aggression studies in psychiatry, such as the branches, publication years, types, publishers, and impact factors, and compares the focus areas of psychiatry and psychiatric nursing on aggression, to guide future research and readers on this topic. Bibliometric analysis was performed with network metrics, citation analysis, co-authorship analysis, science mapping, and network visualization techniques using WoS analysis reports and the VOSviewer program with data obtained from the Web of Science database on January 11, 2024. Results Most studies on aggression in psychiatry were published in 2019 as English articles. Then, 3.37% of these studies are in psychiatric nursing, mainly from Australia. In contrast, most psychiatric studies are from the USA. Psychiatry studies focus on causes, types, and relationships with psychiatric disorders, while psychiatric nursing studies emphasize aggressive attitudes, risk assessment, and aggression management. Conclusions It appears that studies on aggression continue to remain current in the literature and will continue to do so, considering that aggression is an ongoing clinical problem worldwide. Despite this, studies on assessing and managing the risk of aggression are still lacking. Future studies should prioritize the management of aggression. While the study showed the presence of multidisciplinary and international collaborations, it is recommended that these collaborations be further expanded. Findings may inform researchers’ keyword and journal choices.