Getting Started

Belajar

One of my PhD students found the solution to multiple authors appearing on each 'line' when you run author co-citation analysis in Scopus. The solution is to export a "saved list" rather than the initial search results.
1. First save the filtered list of documents on the search page to "Saved Lists".
2. Reopen the list from the "saved lists" section.
3. Then export the list to a CSV file from the document list page.

Hi! The link to the AIDA booklet generates an "Access Denied" message. Although I found the booklet here: https://research.tudelft.nl/en/publications/research-positioning-amp-trend-identification-a-data-analytics-to (there is also a direct link to the PDF: https://research.tudelft.nl/files/40154954/AIDA_Booklet_V2.2.pdf)

hai I have trouble when I want to open this software after download.
this is the statement warning "error: could not create the Java Virtual Machine. Error: a fatal exception has occurred. program will exit." could you please tell me how to fixed it?. I have already downloaded this software twice and get the same statement warning.

Has anyone been able to resolve the issue with Scopus changing the delimiters in csv exports? I've been unable to complete any analyses since this change.

I'm hoping that VosViewer will be updated to address this issue but would love tips from other users!

Thank you for the platform. I am working on a bibliometric literature review article. I generated a Network Visualization of keyword co-occurrences. I took screenshots of the visualizations and included them in my paper. However, the journal editor suggests that I need to work with the output from VoSviewer (and recommends MS Power Point) in order to mark the clusters with dotted lines or circles.
Anyone who can help how I export the visualizations in PPT or word?

Dear sir/madam
i am using Microsoft surface 6 pro with win11. although java have been installed, the vosviewer does not work and this message has been shown "Error:could not create java virtual machine. a fatal exception has occurred. program will exit".
please help me to solve it
tnx

Well, that's one of the stupider requirements that I've heard from a journal editor. And after publishing 250 articles, I've heard a lot of stupid requirements!
I thought that I'd suggest a workaround by creating a thesaurus file that would replace the lower case with title case names. However, when I tested it myself, it didn't work. So this appears to be something integral to the program code. Maybe Prof W. will have an option for you, but maybe not.
In the meantime I would go back to the editor with a three point strategy.
1. Explain again that it's not possible with the software.
2. You might also point out that such maps have been published in numerous journals (name a few prestigious journals in your field that have published maps generated in VOSviewer).
3. Finally, note that this is akin to SPSS output that is often published in figures that include text in non-standard formats.
If there is no way to do it in VOSviewer, and the editor still insists that this MUST be done, then your only alternative would be to copy and paste the maps into powerpoint. Create new title case labels using the insert text box function. Then put the new labels over the old ones. However, this will be very time consuming and probably not look very good in the end if you have a map with more than 100 items on it.
Good luck!

I have worked on a publication involving bibliometric analysis, which is stuck with a query.
The editor has asked to prepare the figures (author and country network maps) following English grammatical rules, i.e. to capitalize the initials of names of authors and countries.
However, since the figures are software generated, I have not been able to resolve the query.
I downloaded the data from the Web of Science Core Collection and used vosviewer for performing bibliometric analysis.
Can somebody help in resolving the query for capitalizing the initials of author and country names.
Thanking you in anticipation.

Hi
I am not writing today with a question, but rather to share how I've been using VOSviewer as a means of helping my first-year PhD students learn about the literature in their respective fields.
I teach a first-term course for PhD students in which the objectives include 1. familiarizing themselves with key research in their topical areas (i.e., themes, authors, documents, journals), 2- document search, 3. data analysis, presentation, and interpretation, and 3. writing for publication.
Initially students learn how to search in Scopus, run Scopus analytical tools, and export a document list to Excel. Then they learn step by step how to run selected data analyses in VOSviewer. Each student draws on these data to write a complete 8K-10K bibliometric review of research on his/her topic in a publishable format by the end of 15 weeks. About 50% of the students in each cohort have been able to publish their bibliometric reviews in Scopus Q1/Q2 journals, in either first or second year of the program.
But whether or not they can publish the review is not actually the point here. The main takeaway is that by going through the process of conducting a bibliometric review the students have - in just 15 weeks - learned who the key authors are in their field of study, which documents MUST be read, which theories are pertinent to their topics, which journals they should read and seek to publish in, dominant themes, and the research front.
I've been teaching doctoral seminars since 1984, and this is absolutely the fastest and most effective way that I have found to for PhD students to get up to speed on their topics. Of course, this doesn't mean that they have READ the top-cited documents, but at least they now know what documents and authors they should read in subsequent terms.
If there are other PhD instructors who would like to see my syllabus, please send me an email at my last name @gmail.com.
Philip Hallinger
P.S. Apologies in advance to Prof Waltman if this is considered off-topic. However, I think users should be aware of other potential uses of the software.

I am writing a article these day, i need to the biliometric analysis and i would like to use your program. I am writing to inquire about your program. Because screen goes to macbook lock screen when i opened on VOSviewer and everything is not coming back to the home screen. When i am writing my password or fingerprint but returns to the same screen again. How can i do?

Is there a way to export clustered items in VOSviewer?

Hello, I've used VOSViewer before with great results, but I cannot run it on my new Macbook Pro with M1 chip work laptop. I installed Java through Homebrew --> Temurin, and created the required symlink, but when I try to run VOSViewer or launch it from web I always get the error message "Unable to load Java Runtime environment".
Has anyone been able to use VOSViewer on a M1 Mac running Ventura 13.4.1?
Thank you for the great work!
All the best,
Sebastiano

I encountered the 'not enough memory available' error multiple times. Following the manual, I entered the command 'java -Xmx4000m -jar VOSviewer.jar' in the command line, but the same error persisted. Furthermore, when I checked the available memory for VOSviewer in the 'About VOSviewer' section, it consistently showed a range of 1300 MB to 1500 MB, never close to the required 4000 MB specified in the command. Can I receive assistance in resolving this issue?

I encountered the 'not enough memory available' error multiple times. Following the manual, I entered the command 'java -Xmx4000m -jar VOSviewer.jar' in the command line, but the same error persisted. Furthermore, when I checked the available memory for VOSviewer in the 'About VOSviewer' section, it consistently showed a range of 1300 MB to 1500 MB, never close to the required 4000 MB specified in the command. Can I receive assistance in resolving this issue?"

Hello, how could ı merge scopus and WoS data and run on vosviewer.

I downloaded free trial file for my windows machine. It shows an error to download java script which I also did but still it shows an error which says It couldn't create a java virtual machine, a fatal exception has occurred.
Can anyone help me what shall be done ?

Hi everyone,
I've worked with VOSViewer for several years and in many different projects. Today I encountered a problem for the first time that I can not find a solution to.
For every map with bibliographic data I try to create I receive the Error message:
Error while reading PubMed file ... (line 2): File is invalid.
Older files work, but the ones downloaded today all reveice this error message. I am aware that in Scopus download settings sometimes affect VOSViewer, but we do not have similar download options in PubMed.
Is the error on my side or were there changes in PubMed that now in general affect the way VOSViewer deals with those?
Please help!
Thank you
Jana

Dear Nees or any other person who has used this tool.
How are you and thank you for this introduction to Vosviewer.
At the University of Twente, we would like to use your tool for our second year students who are formulating a research question about an investigation they want to do in order to answer the question: "what is the impact of AI on the digital society?"They are designing for the execution of the research question using qualitative or quantitative methods. We want them to conduct a limited literature review using this tool.
Is it possible for you to offer an introduction to our group of about 20- 25 students, or can you direct us to someone who can help?
The project starts this September.
Kind regards ,
Rita Kizito

Professor
Two questions:
1. I'm having trouble with an author thesaurus file. No matter how many times and ways I edit the file, s few authors' names (e.g., Johnson, D. and Johnson, D.T.) don't get merged in the author co-citation results. I've created many thesaurus files in the past, so I know what the process is, but can't solve this problem. Any ideas?
2. I just ran author citation and author co-citation analyses. Instead of giving me an author by author list of names and citations, VOSviewer is generating a list where there are multiple authors on many lines. I've never had this happen before.
Thanks in advance.

Greetings! I am trying to upload citations from Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed together. However, it seems I can only add files from one source at a time and then the other citations are no longer included (ie- I put in the Web of Science files, but then they are no longer included when I add the Scopus files). Can anyone provide guidance on how to import data from these sources together to create one visual? Thank you!

Dear Ludo, in bibliographic coupling (of documents, mainly) is there a way to determine the optimal number of clusters in which to classify objects? I have seen empirically that once the min cluster size has been established, by increasing resolution the number of clusters quickly stabilizes. Does this seem like a correct mode to you? I generally place the min cluster size between 30 and 40 documents (in collections between 1000-3000 documents) in order to have enough documents for any subsequent applications, for example keyword co-occurrence. I hope you are well and preparing another one of your precious packages.

How to cite VOSviewer in our papers?

I am trying to use VOS viewer generate a map from lines of comma-separated keywords that exists as a standalone CSV file. Is there a way to import this file?

I'm starting to use vosviewer for my research, this tutorial helped me a lot about how to use correctly this tool. Thanks very much

I am scholar and researcher.

I m getting an error in vos viewer line 8 has incorrect no of columns what to do?

Hello, working with VOSviewer version 1.6.19 and trying to query Crossref (DOI, ISSN...) I get an error message: Error downloading cross reference data. Connection problem. I have checked my internet connection and it is fine. Any suggestion?

Hi,
I am new to VOS and I have a few questions!
Is it possible to to e.g remove items (terms) after a map has been generated?
How does one merge terms to one (e.g. a term and its abbreviation)?
/Bethanie

Dear Prof van Eck and Prof Waltman,
I'm consulting the bibliography on data normalization methods in vosviewer, according to the literature indicated in the manual ( VOSviewer version 1.6.19, p. 22). However, I was unable to satisfactorily interpret the differences between equations 6 (association) and 13 (fractionation). Mainly the option in the analysis table "fractionalization" to visualize items and/or clusters. Thank you very much.

Hello, how could ı merge scopus and WoS data and run on vosviewer.

Hi. I would like to ask, when I generate the co-authorship visualisation map between countries, there are few dots that do not have any country name. May I know why is that? I set the minimum document of a country is 3.
Thank you very much

Is the following description of total link strength in keyword co-occurrence analysis correct?
"Total link strength is a metric that captures the number of other keywords with which the specified keyword co-occurred (i.e., was linked) in the review database.
Thanks.
Philip

I tried to upload the 1st 2000 results and have not open or change the file, but VOSviewer shows an error "IOException line 1199 invalid char between encapsulated token and delimiter". Does somebody know what does it mean?

Agradeço pelo VOSviewer.

Thanks for VOSviewer. Can you please explain how total link strength is calculated so I can interpret what it means. I’d like to use it in a term cooccurrence analysis. For example I have a term with 24 binary occurrences and a TLS of 71. Thanks Peter

Thankyou for VOSviewer. Can you please explain how total link strength is calculated. I’d like to use it for a term concurrence analysis but am unclear beyond the general description in the manual how to interpret the numbers. For example if have a word with 24 binary cooccurrences and a total link strength of 71?

I am using VOSviewer 1.6.18 version and till few days back everything was working fine but then suddenly, I am not able to save any of the maps generated to my system. As soon as I save or copy to clipboard, the application stops responding and keeps hanging until I have to force quit it. So basically, whatever results I am generating through VOSviewer, I am not able to save or export them. I have tried re-installing app multiple times, having cleared cached files and restarting the system.
I am using MacBook Air, iOS (Big Sur, 11.2). Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Ludo
Two questions.
1. Is there any viable method of disambiguating Chinese author names such as "wang, y." when it refers to multiple authors and there is no alternate form (e.g., wang, y. and wang y.y.)?
2. On co-citation and keyword maps, what accounts for the situation when two authors/keywords with many links but are located far apart on a map?
Thanks.

Hi
I m using Vosviewer 1.6.18, it's an amazing tool, however with this new version we don't have the ability to use the keyword analysis does not exist, there are only 4 type of analysis: Co-Authorship, Citation, Bibliographic coupling and co-citation we no longer have the possibility to choose Co-Occurrence.
Any Idea on how to overcome this issue
Thanks

How does VOSviewer calculate the average publication year？

Dear Prof van Eck and Prof Waltman,
In a term co-occurrence map, is it possible to see which specific journal articles a term shown in the map is linked to?
Thank you so much,
Julian

Hi,
There is an error when I want to use the thesaurus file!
It says, "error while reading VOSreviewer thesaurus file (line1), incorrect use of quotes.
Thanks, Mohammad

I solved it, select all options not the default when you do csv export from Scopus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azw1EEZrNI8

Hi. I have a text of keywords/topics that I would like to analyse and map using the VosViewer. The topics are in the format below. When I try to analyse them, VosViewer maps words instead of a topic/phrase. I have tried to separate the words using a semi-colon but in vain. The file format is .txt.
HIV,HIV Infections,HIV-1
Health Literacy,Patients,Internet
Traffic Control,Transportation,Models
Industry,Research,Marketing
Archives,Library,Collections
Semantics,Models,Recommender Systems
Agents,Game Theory,Models
Electricity,Energy,Economics
Electronic Health Records,Medical Informatics,Delivery Of Health Care
Library,Librarian,Information
Library,Librarian,Information
Archives,Library,Collections
Library,Librarian,Information
Industry,Information Systems,Research
Microfinance,Farmers,Cooperative
Library,Librarian,Information
Computer Crime,Network Security,Intrusion Detection
Knowledge Management,Industry,Research
Microfinance,Farmers,Cooperative
Neutropenia,Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor,Neutrophils

Hello, what is the difference between the keywords analysis in "bibliographic data" and the terms of Title and abstract fields in ”text data“?
In what situation will you record each of the methods？
thank you！

Hello Prof Waltman,
I would be extremely grateful if you could help me with the following issue:
I exported data from Scopus by checking all the boxes for a CSV file. When I open the file in VOSviewer, however, it only displays the Co-authorship and Co-occurrence options. There is no citation, bibliographic coupling, or co-citation.
Your response is highly valued.

Hello,
I created a thesaurus file to replace common names with species names, and I'm having trouble getting vosviewer to read it properly. Keywords of common names are still appearing when it should be only cleaned up species names. Does anyone have advice on how to get this file to work? I simply made a two-column excel sheet and exported as a tab-delimited .txt file.
Quick help would be much appreciated!

Hello Prof Waltman,
I would be extremely grateful if you could help me with the following issue:
I exported data from Scopus by checking all the boxes for a CSV file. When I open the file in VOSviewer, however, it only displays the Co-authorship and Co-occurrence options. There is no citation, bibliographic coupling, or co-citation.
Your response is highly valued.

The txt or ris file extracted from WoS is not working for this version of VOSviewer(can't analysis co-occurrence or so), please fix this problem :(