Occupational Exposure to Formaldehyde: Research Trends and Scientific Contributions

Formaldehyde is a colorless, highly reactive volatile organic compound with a sharp odor, widely used in industrial production. Many workers are exposed to it in workplaces, leading to adverse health effects like asthma, dermatitis, and cancer. Prolonged exposure necessitates control measures and health monitoring. Bibliometric studies help understand scientific research's structure and development. This study investigated the scientific output on occupational exposure to formaldehyde using a data-driven analysis of publications obtained from Web of Science and Scopus. RStudio and VOSviewer were used for analysis, reviewing 2390 publications of 8011 authors in 3099 affiliations across 77 countries published between 1960 and 2024. The United States emerged as the most productive contributor. The analysis covered co-authorship, bibliographic coupling by countries, citation analysis, journal analysis, top authors, and term analysis. Key topics identified included occupational diseases caused by formaldehyde, air quality effects, toxicity, genotoxicity, risk analysis, and personal exposure assessments. The findings provide a broad overview of research trends and contributions in this field, highlighting areas relevant to health and safety.