Analysis of child abuse by science mapping method

Child abuse is defined as physical and emotional maltreatment, sexual abuse, neglect and exploitation that cause actual or potential harm to the child's health, development, or dignity. Bibliometrics analyses works produced in a particular field, period and region. It is used to determine the studies carried out in any field, their development and changes in the process, and possible trends. The Web of Science Core Collection database was preferred due to the vast amount of high-quality and effective scientific articles accepted in academic environments worldwide. The data obtained from the database were extracted and filtered. The Bibliometrix program was used to perform a bibliometric analysis of the data obtained from the database. In our research, 2684 articles were analysed. The first scientific study on child abuse research was entered into the database in 1980. It was used in 786 sources and 2684 documents between 1980 and 2021. Child Abuse & Neglect is the journal with the most publications, representing 15.05 per cent (404/2684) of the total articles. The publication of articles on child abuse in journals started in the 1980s. An increase was observed in the number of articles published in the following years.