A bibliometric analysis of research on the health impacts of ozone air pollution

Ground-level ozone (O₃) is one of the major air pollutants. A large body of literature has linked O₃ air pollution to various adverse human health effects. The objective of this study is to attain a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the progress and frontiers of research on O₃ and human health. We used bibliometric methods to summarize publications on O₃ air pollution and public health between 1990 and 2022 obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection database. VOSviewer and R software were used for bibliometric analysis and visualization. A total of 4501 relevant papers were included in the analysis. There has been a significant increase in the number of publications since 2013, with the USA being the major contributor, followed by China and England. Harvard University was the most prolific research institution, followed by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the University of North Carolina System. Professor Joel Schwartz was the most published author and has established a complex network of national and international collaborations. Co-occurrence analysis of keywords suggested evolving research hotspots, from toxicological studies to population-based epidemiological studies and from the respiratory system to the extra-pulmonary system. Research on O₃ and its human health effects has progressed rapidly over the past few decades, but academic disparities still persist between developed and developing countries. There is an urgent need to strengthen international cooperation to address the public health challenges posed by rising O₃ air pollution in the future.