Bibliometric analysis of fuzzy theory research in China: A 30-year perspective

The past half-century has witnessed fast development in the field of fuzzy theory (FT), however, few researches have focused on mapping the development of this area in China. Based on the samples of 12,936 publications authored by Chinese scholars on FT researches during the past 30 years, this paper intends to explore the patterns and dynamics by analyzing the geographic distribution of publications, international collaboration, research hot spot, subject categories and journals, and publication contributors. The results indicate that the scientific publications are highly unbalanced at regional levels in China, and the USA is China's most important partner in FT cooperative researches. Collaborations are not indispensable for high-quality research outputs in FT area. The existing researches in the field of FT from Chinese scholars focus primarily on Computer Science and Engineering. The emerging trends of FT researches from Chinese scholars have shifted away from basic FT researches to the applications, such as the areas of decision making, optimization, modeling and design.