Flexible electronics research knowledge mapping based on VOSviewer and CiteSpace bibliometric analysis

Innovations in polymer chemistry and materials science have accelerated the development of high-performance flexible electronics for applications in various fields. While prior research has extensively reviewed progress within specialized subfields of flexible electronics, a systematic examination of the field's overall research landscape and its interconnections with adjacent knowledge domains remains absent. This review presents the first detailed bibliometric analysis of flexible electronics research trends, effectively balancing scholarly rigor with accessibility. Through VOSviewer and CiteSpace analysis of publications spanning 2006-2025, the publications have maintained steady growth with a markedly increased growth rate in recent years. Wei Huang was the most productive authors, while John A. Rogers showed the highest total link strength. Considering the productive and impactful institution, China and USA are unequivocally the preeminent forces in the field of flexible electronic. And South Korea and Japan remain significant forces that cannot be overlooked. Flexible electronic, performance, fabrication, films, graphene, transparent, and nanoparticles were among the high-frequency keywords. Four future development directions were recognized including material innovation, advanced manufacturing technology revolution, multimodal flexible integrated sensors, and machine learning-enhanced flexible sensors for health monitoring. This bibliometric investigation aims to provide foundational guidance and strategic direction for advancing flexible electronics research.