A bibliometric analysis of research in design for additive manufacturing

Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) provides an opportunity to harness the capabilities of Additive Manufacturing. Research shows that knowledge has been developed which cuts across different aspects in the field. Hence, as an emerging research area, it is imperative to understand how the knowledge in this field is developing and its significance to both academia and industry. In this paper, we use a bibliometric approach to analyse publications from January 2010 to December 2020 to explore the subject areas, publication outlets, most active authors, geographical distribution of scholarly outputs, collaboration and co-citations at both institutional and geographical levels, and outcomes from keyword analysis. Our findings reveal that most knowledge has been developed in DfAM methods, rules, and guidelines. This may suggest that designers are trying to learn new ways of harnessing the freedom offered by AM. Furthermore, more knowledge is needed to understand how to tackle the inherent limitations in AM processes. Moreover, DfAM knowledge has thus far been developed mostly by authors in a small number of institutional and geographical clusters; potentially limiting diverse perspectives and synergies from international collaboration which are essential for global knowledge development, the improvement of the quality of DfAM research, and its wider dissemination. A concise structure of DfAM knowledge areas upon which the Bibliometric analysis was conducted was developed. Furthermore, areas where research is concentrated, and those that require further knowledge development are revealed.