Title: Discovery of the global landscape for railroad pantograph research: a bibliometric review

Authors: Munaliza Ibrahim; Mohd Azman Abdullah; Mohd Hanif Harun; Fathiah Mohamed Jamil; Fauzi Ahmad

Addresses: Faculty of Mechanical Technology and Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Durian Tunggal, 76100, Melaka, Malaysia ' Faculty of Mechanical Technology and Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Durian Tunggal, 76100, Melaka, Malaysia ' Faculty of Mechanical Technology and Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Durian Tunggal, 76100, Melaka, Malaysia ' Faculty of Mechanical Technology and Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Durian Tunggal, 76100, Melaka, Malaysia ' Faculty of Mechanical Technology and Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Durian Tunggal, 76100, Melaka, Malaysia

Abstract: Railroad vehicles are highly dependent on the proper functioning of the pantograph, which makes it an indispensable device that picks up the electric current from the overhead line cable system. This study addresses the lack of a comprehensive analysis by conducting a bibliometric study of research publications on pantographs in railroads available in the Scopus database. The data was analysed using a sample of 1234 publications between 1928 and 2023. The bibliometric analysis shows a significant increase in this research. The publication involved contributions from 159 authors across 41 countries and 160 institutions. The year 2018 saw the highest number of published papers, with 89. Southwest Jiaotong University from China was the most prolific institution in this research area. This study provides a pioneering overview of worldwide publications on pantographs using three bibliometric tools Microsoft Excel, VOSviewer and, Harzing's Publish or Perish software package.

Keywords: railroad pantograph; Scopus database; bibliometric review; frequency analysis; Microsoft excel; data visualisation; VOSviewer; citation metrics; Harzing's Publish or Perish.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHVS.2025.149283

International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems, 2025 Vol.32 No.5, pp.575 - 625

Received: 04 Jul 2024
Accepted: 11 Oct 2024
Published online: 22 Oct 2025 *

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