Mapping process safety: A retrospective scientometric analysis of three process safety related journals (1999–2018)

Over the last decades, process safety has been an important area of academic inquiry, aiming to build knowledge which can contribute to reduce the occurrence of industrial accidents in the process and chemical industries, or to mitigate their consequences. Knowledge in this interdisciplinary research domain is created using applied science, engineering, organizational, and social science approaches. This article provides a retrospective overview of the process safety research field, through the lens of three major journals contributing to the development of this knowledge domain: Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, Process Safety and Environmental Protection, and Process Safety Progress. An analysis of the articles in these journals, published between 1999 and 2018, provides insights in the structure, developments, trends, and highly influential works in this research domain, while revealing differences and similarities between these three core process safety journals. General publication trends, the geographic distribution of leading knowledge producers (countries/regions and institutions), their collaboration and temporal evolution patterns, topic clusters and emerging trends, and highly cited sources and articles, are identified and discussed.