Evolution of Fatigue Research in the Aviation Sector: A Bibliometric Study

Abstract

Fatigue is widely recognized as a critical human factor in aviation, influencing flight safety, crew performance, and operational efficiency. This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of peer-reviewed and open-access publications on aviation-related fatigue between 1995 and May 31, 2025, based on 228 articles indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. Using VOSviewer software, data were analyzed through performance metrics, co-authorship, and citation networks, bibliographic coupling, and keyword co-occurrence mapping. Findings reveal a significant increase in publication output after 2020, highlighting growing academic and regulatory attention to fatigue risk management, especially in the context of extended flight duties and cognitive performance deterioration. Highly cited publications emphasize the physiological and neurocognitive consequences of fatigue, while the most central authors and clusters point to increasing interdisciplinary collaboration. Keyword co-occurrence mapping revealed prominent conceptual clusters around human fatigue, operational safety, fatigue management strategies, and detection technologies, reflecting the multifaceted nature of fatigue-related research in aviation. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of the structural evolution of fatigue literature in aviation, offering methodological clarity and highlighting key research gaps. These results provide actionable insights for aviation stakeholders seeking evidence-based strategies to manage fatigue and support human-centered safety systems.

Keywords

• Aviation
• Fatigue
• Human Factors
• Aviation Safety
• Bibliometric Analysis

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