Research Trends in College Student Mental Health: A Bibliometric Analysis

This study aims to explore common research themes and the intellectual structure of the college student mental health (CSMH) field through bibliometric analysis of metadata from the Journal of College Student Mental Health (JCSMH). We conducted a comprehensive bibliometric analysis examining keywords, titles, and abstracts of JCSMH publications using VOSviewer software. Metadata from 125 publications extracted from the Web of Science database were subjected to co-occurrence and network analyses. The analysis revealed that depression, anxiety, and stress constituted the primary research themes within the CSMH literature. Help-seeking behavior, stigma, and related constructs also received substantial scholarly attention. The majority of publications comprised empirical research articles, with notably few literature reviews and meta-analyses. Additionally, findings indicated limited international collaboration, with the United States and Canada emerging as the predominant contributing countries in this field. The findings underscore the need to enhance international collaboration and to increase the publication of literature reviews and meta-analyses, particularly those addressing depression, anxiety, and stress. Additionally, research that emphasizes cross-cultural comparisons, culturally adapted treatment models, and other underexplored mental health issues should be further promoted to advance the field.