Background: Sexual violence (SV) is a serious public health problem affecting millions of people each year. The main aim of this article is to provide a large-scale snapshot of the field of knowledge in SV research using a scientometric approach.
Methods: Documents were retrieved from the Web of Science database. Then, a scientometric study was carried out on a sample of 65,610 documents. Co-citation and co-occurrence measures have been calculated and related networks have been drawn using Citespace and Biblioshiny software.
Results: The main findings indicate that research in SV has increased significantly in recent years. On the other hand, the publication of about one-third of these documents by a single author is due to the special nature of this topic and its taboo in many societies. In addition, a large number of multimedia documents demonstrate the role and importance of multimedia resources in SV studies. Despite the attention to SV research by poor or developing countries to research in the field of SV, 95% of the documents have been published by 20 developed countries. Additionally, the general research approach has changed from criminology to psychology.
Conclusions: Therefore, it seems that the discussion of psychological disorders in the occurrence of sexual violence reveals a new approach to SV. The concepts related to SV have been linked to broader areas than in the past. This, along with emphasizing prevention topics in the long term, will increase awareness of SV and reduce the possibility of abuse of vulnerable people.