Five decades of catastrophe theory research: Geographical atlas, knowledge structure and historical roots

Catastrophe theory research has recently witnessed a distinct proliferation. In this article we apply bibliometric network techniques to examine the conceptual/intellectual structure of this domain based on 1498 Scopus documents written by 2745 authors representing 69 nations and spanning almost five decades (1975–2020). The study aims to explore the catastrophe theory research impactful authors, influential journals, collaboration networks and emerging trends. Additionally, keyword co-occurrence techniques are employed to scrutinize major schools of thought. Results show that the most impactful journals publishing catastrophe theory research are Behavioral Science, Physical Review D, Ecological Modeling, Journal of Physical Chemistry A and the Journal of Theoretical Biology. Results also show that the author collaboration network in catastrophe theory research is sparse. Furthermore, results related to collaborative networks among institutions and countries reveal a global “North-South” schism between developed and developing nations. The multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) applied to obtain the catastrophe theory research conceptual map reflects the depth and breadth of the research's foci. Finally, the reference publication year spectroscopy (RPYS) was used to detect the “citation classics” forming the historical roots of catastrophe theory research. Our analysis has far-reaching implications for aspiring researchers interested in catastrophe theory research as we retrospectively trace the evolution in research output over the last five decades, establish linkages between the authors and articles, and reveal trending topics/hotspots within the broad theme of catastrophe theory research.