Visualization Analysis of Artificial Intelligence Literature in Forensic Research

Objective To analyze the literature on artificial intelligence in forensic research from 2012 to 2022 in the Web of Science Core Collection Database, to explore research hotspots and developmental trends. Methods A total of 736 articles on artificial intelligence in forensic medicine in the Web of Science Core Collection Database from 2012 to 2022 were visualized and analyzed through the literature measuring tool CiteSpace. The authors, institution, country （region）, title, journal, keywords, cited references and other information of relevant literatures were analyzed. Results A total of 736 articles published in 220 journals by 355 authors from 289 institutions in 69 countries （regions） were identified, with the number of articles published showing an increasing trend year by year. Among them, the United States had the highest number of publications and China ranked the second. Academy of Forensic Science had the highest number of publications among the institutions. Forensic Science International, Journal of Forensic Sciences, International Journal of Legal Medicine ranked high in publication and citation frequency. Through the analysis of keywords, it was found that the research hotspots of artificial intelligence in the forensic field mainly focused on the use of artificial intelligence technology for sex and age estimation, cause of death analysis, postmortem interval estimation, individual identification and so on. Conclusion It is necessary to pay attention to international and institutional cooperation and to strengthen the cross-disciplinary research. Exploring the combination of advanced artificial intelligence technologies with forensic research will be a hotspot and direction for future research.