Mapping the dynamics in artificial intelligence through co-word analysis

Along with the dramatic growth in scientific literature, it is becoming increasingly difficult for scientists and policy makers to identify hot topics and trace the development of a specific research field. Some quantitative methods have been developed to ameliorate these problems, of which co-word analysis is one. In this paper, we map the dynamics in the field of artificial intelligence during the last five years, using the co-word analysis technique. The experimental results show that, using the co-word analysis technique, it is possible to identify the hot topics in a particular research field at one time and, in turn, to map the dynamics in the topics during a series of periods.