1. What exactly is bibliometric analysis, and how is it typically used in research?

• Identifying research trends: It helps researchers recognize emerging trends or topics of interest within a specific field. This is particularly useful for guiding future research directions.
• Analyzing the development of a field: By tracking changes in research topics and the number of publications over time, bibliometric analysis helps evaluate the evolution of a field across different stages.
• Assessing scientific impact: Analyzing citation counts allows for evaluating the impact of studies, authors, and journals, helping to identify influential research within the academic community.
• Identifying "research hubs": Bibliometric analysis can help identify research groups or influential universities and research institutes within a field.
• Supporting literature reviews: Bibliometric analysis is a powerful tool for building a systematic review or meta-analysis by providing data on relevant publications and key research trends

2 Is it possible to conduct bibliometric analysis with a small sample size, such as 15-30 articles? If so, what are the limitations and considerations?

• Limited coverage: With a small sample size, the analysis results may not fully reflect major or comprehensive trends in a particular field. Some important aspects may be overlooked.
• Low representativeness: A small sample may not represent the entire body of research in the field, leading to conclusions that may be inaccurate or lacking generalizability.
• Prone to bias: If the small sample is selected from a few sources or specific time periods, the results may be biased due to insufficient diversity in perspectives and research methods.
• Weak trend detection: Bibliometric analysis of a small sample may fail to identify minor but significant trends in the research field.

• Careful sample selection: To minimize the above limitations, the sample should be chosen with diversity in terms of authors, journals, time periods, and geographical locations to ensure better representativeness.
• Focus on depth: A small sample can offer an advantage by allowing in-depth analysis of each article rather than a broad overview. Consider factors such as content, methodology, and research objectives of each study.
• Use qualitative analysis methods: With a small number of articles, qualitative methods (such as thematic analysis) may be more suitable than quantitative ones, which require larger datasets to ensure reliability.
• Combine with other research: To enhance the value of the analysis, it can be combined with other qualitative or quantitative studies to provide additional insights to the results from the bibliometric analysis.

Thank you dear Nhung Thị Nguyễn , Can I proceed if there are only a small number of published articles? Can I include both primary and review papers in my analysis? For instance, if there are two systematic reviews that each include 20 papers, and I find an additional 10 primary papers, can I include both the systematic reviews and the primary studies together?

I am eager to receive your feedback.

cheers

It could be generally feasible, but the bibliometric analysis with small datasets (15–30 articles) faces limitations like reduced generalizability, less complex networks, skewed citation metrics, and difficulty identifying trends. To address this, focus on qualitative insights, select highly relevant articles, combine methods like systematic reviews, and clearly define objectives and addressing these limitations would clearly refine your project