A bibliometric analysis of research in design for additive manufacturing

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand how Design for Additive manufacturing Knowledge has been developing and its significance to both academia and industry. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors 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 keywords analysis. Findings The 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 of 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, for improvement of the quality of DfAM research and for its wider dissemination. Originality/value A concise structure of DfAM knowledge areas upon which the bibliometric analysis was conducted has been developed. Furthermore, areas where research is concentrated and those that require further knowledge development are revealed.