How can I learn about the research hotspots in my discipline through journal articles?

Journal articles offer a valuable and feasible method to identify research hotspots within a discipline by revealing current scholarly focus areas. Analyzing key journals provides direct insight into prevalent themes. Effectively learning hotspots involves systematic examination. Prioritize high-impact journals and recent review articles for broad overviews of active fields. Employ bibliometric analysis of abstracts and keywords to quantify trending topics and track frequency changes over time. Closely monitor special issues and editorials, which often highlight emergent areas or pressing challenges. Utilize citation mapping to identify foundational works spawning significant subsequent research, indicating sustained interest. Consistency in reviewing core journals across several years is crucial. Implementation requires specific steps. Firstly, identify leading journals within the target discipline. Secondly, analyze recent volumes, especially review articles and editorial introductions, focusing on declared trends and knowledge gaps. Thirdly, systematically collect and quantify keywords and abstracts using bibliometric tools (if available) to identify frequency patterns. Fourthly, examine special issues to pinpoint editor-curated emerging topics. Finally, perform backward and forward citation tracing of key recent papers to understand interconnectedness and growth, clearly delineating the current research front.