Digital adaptive intervention in the medical field: a bibliometric analysis

Background In recent years, the concept of adaptive interventions (AIs) has attracted the attention of researchers in the medical field. Our study aimed to visualize the publications to determine the hotspots and frontiers in research on AIs and provide guidance and reference for further study. Methods We searched the Web of Science Core Collection up to December 2024, and only articles and review articles about AIs were included. The countries of origin, authors, co-citation references, hotspots, and frontier were analyzed by VOSviewer V.1.6.20, CiteSpace V.5.7.R5, and Scimago Graphica. Results A total of 429 publications were identified, including 399 original studies and 30 reviews. The number of studies has proliferated since 2016. The United States, especially the University of Michigan, made significant contributions to this field. There was a closer collaboration among author teams and more frequent AIs research development and collaboration in Europe, the United States, and Australia. Just-in-time adaptive interventions are the predominant intervention design of concern at this stage, with addictive behavior and mental health as the main fields of research in medicine. AIs utilizing mobile health, combining ecological momentary assessment tools, may represent an emerging trend in future research. Conclusion Researchers’ understanding of AIs has improved dramatically over the past 20 years. At present, the emphasis of research on AIs is gradually transitioning from initial theoretical development to practical application and effectiveness evaluation, and we look forward to seeing it applied in more areas.