3D Printing: A Scientometric Assessment of Global Publications Output during 2007-16

The papers provides quantitative and qualitative description of three dimensional (3D) printing research based on global publications output (7309 publications) in the field as indexed in Scopus database covering the 10-year period 2007-2016. 3D printing research registered 54.61 per cent growth per annum and averaged 10.59 citations per papers in 10 years, and bulk of global output (93.79 %) in the field emanates from just top 16 countries. The papers further provides an insight into qualitative performance of 3D printing research in terms of relative citation index, citations per papers, highly cited papers, top 25 global organisations and authors in the field, most favoured subjects in the field, and most favoured materials, technologies, and applications used in the field. The study concludes that 3D printing is the next revolution in industrial manufacturing led by USA and China. Asian and Pacific countries should take initiatives to support 3D printing research through appropriate policy and funding mechanisms as well as encourage research teams to collaborate with leading international hubs in 3D printing research.