Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research ›› 2026, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (16): 4265-4277.doi: 10.12307/2026.689

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Application trends of eye-tracking technology in rehabilitation: a visualization analysis based on CiteSpace and VOSviewer

Wei Jingyi1, Wang Xiaojing1, Liu Xihua2   

  1. 1Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan 250355, Shandong Province, China; 2The Affiliated Hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan 250014, Shandong Province, China
  • Received:2025-05-26 Accepted:2025-08-27 Online:2026-06-08 Published:2025-11-29
  • Contact: Liu Xihua, MD, Chief physician, Doctoral supervisor, The Affiliated Hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan 250014, Shandong Province, China
  • About author:Wei Jingyi, MS candidate, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan 250355, Shandong Province, China
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China (Youth Program), No. 81802239 (to LXH); Shandong Province Traditional Chinese Medicine Science & Technology Project, No. M-2023142 (to LXH)

Abstract: BACKGROUND: The use of eye-tracking technology and oculometry in clinical rehabilitation assessment and training is gradually increasing, making it particularly important to understand the practical value of eye-tracking technology; however, no studies have been conducted to analyze this area bibliometrically.
OBJECTIVE: To study the current situation and frontier trends of the research on eye-tracking technology in the field of rehabilitation. 
METHODS: A subject-word combination was used to search for relevant literature on the application of eye-tracking technology in rehabilitation from January 1, 2014 to February 5, 2025, in the CNKI, WanFang Database, and Web of Science Database. CiteSpace 6.4.R1 was used for publication volume, country, institution, author, and keyword co-occurrence, clustering, bursting, and timeline analysis; VOSviewer 1.6.20 was used for journal co-occurrence analysis, cited literature co-occurrence analysis, and reference co-citation analysis.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) A total of 491 papers were included, including 44 in Chinese and 447 in English. The number of publications in both Chinese and English generally showed an upward trend. The authors with the most publications in Chinese and English were Zhang Yifan and Ciuffreda Kenneth Joseph respectively. The institutions with the most publications in Chinese and English were Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) respectively. (2) The results of keyword co-occurrence and clustering of eye-tracking technology applied in rehabilitation showed that Chinese keywords were cognitive function, autism spectrum disorders, attention, stroke, and unilateral spatial neglect; and English keywords were attention, homonymous hemianopia, children, visual neglect, and deficit disorder. The keywords with higher bursting intensity in Chinese included cognitive function, eye movement, and review, while those in English included stroke, dynamic visual acuity, attention, and virtual reality. (3) As a technology that can recognize and track the vision of people, eye-tracking technology is gradually becoming a research hot spot in the field of rehabilitation medicine, mainly focusing on cognitive rehabilitation of stroke patients, unilateral neglect rehabilitation, attention rehabilitation for children with autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, study of eye movement patterns in patients with brain injury. (4) The use of eye-tracking technology in combination with conventional rehabilitation therapy can be more efficient in diagnosing and treating patients with dysfunction. In the future, eye-tracking technology may be further combined with new technologies, such as virtual reality and brain-computer interfaces, to improve the level of clinical rehabilitation medicine. 


Key words: eye-tracking, rehabilitation, bibliometrics, CiteSpace, VOSviewer, visualization, stroke, cognitive function  

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