ArticleDigital health
Research landscape and trends of internet addiction disorder: A comprehensive bibliometric analysis of publications in the past 20 years.
Article in Digital health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A two-decade bibliometric analysis (2004-2024) of parental factors in the context of internet gaming disorder research.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review of internet addiction in hospitalized adolescents: proposing a hospital-adapted moderated dual mediation model of emotional dysregulation and social compensation.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Appearance-related social media behavior and eating disorder pathology: evidence from the german social media appearance preoccupation scale in nonclinical and clinical samples.Journal of eating disorders · 2026Article
- Validation of the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) for forest firefighters: implications for human-technology interaction and occupational safety in the future of work.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Association between problematic smartphone use and gaming and disruptive behavioral disorder symptoms among Korean adolescents: a nationwide representative study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Internet addiction disorder (IAD) has emerged as a significant public health concern in the digital age, with implications for mental health and social wellbeing. Despite growing recognition, IAD remains a relatively nascent field within academic research. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to explore the global research landscape and trends of IAD. Our methodology involved analyzing author analysis, journal analysis, keywords, and citations in publications related to IAD from 2004 to 2024. Results: We identified "internet addiction," "internet gaming disorder," and "adolescent" as the most frequently occurring keywords, highlighting significant research areas within IAD. The analysis revealed that terms like "social media addiction," "problematic smartphone use," and "COVID-19" have gained prominence in recent years, reflecting the evolving nature of digital technology's impact on mental health. Clustering analysis illustrated the interdisciplinary nature of IAD research, integrating insights from psychology, sociology, network science, and psychiatry. Citation analysis identified highly influential papers, such as Kuss and Griffiths' review on social networking addiction and Brand et al.'s I-PACE model for internet-use disorders. Conclusions: Our findings highlighted the importance of continuing interdisciplinary research to address the multifaceted challenges of IAD. Future research should focus on the intersections of digital behaviors with mental health, personality traits, and social dynamics to develop comprehensive strategies for prevention and intervention.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.