Survey of reversible data hiding: Statistics, current trends, and future outlook

Abstract

In the era of increasing digital media storage and transmission over networks, reversible data hiding (RDH) has evolved as a prominent area of research mitigating information security risk. To study the evolution of research, highlight its achievements over the years, and provide future prospects, this paper presents an extensive review of RDH utilizing the dataset extracted from one of the most popular and exhaustive databases, Web of Science. The study aims to first perform quantitative analysis that includes trend analysis, citation analysis, prominent authors and organizations, and geographical coverage, along with qualitative analysis focusing on key research areas and future prospects within RDH. The study further provides a structured view of sub-technologies within RDH, along with the key contributors and their proposed techniques that have led to the evolution of RDH over the years. Next, we provide a comprehensive review of some of the prominent works in each of the sub-technologies of RDH. Finally, several key research directions, identified based on current research trends and early-stage problems and motivations, are discussed. Overall, the proposed study provides valuable insights into the evolution, key milestones, current state, and future prospects of RDH, serving as a guide for the research community.