Textile-based fiber optic sensors for health monitoring: A systematic and citation network analysis review

Receptivity towards textile-based fiber optic sensors that are used to monitor physical health is increasing as they have good flexibility, are light in weight, provide wear comfort, have electromagnetic immunity, and are electrically safe. Their superior performance has facilitated their use for obtaining close to body measurements. However, there are many related studies in the literature, so it is challenging to identify the knowledge structure and research trends. Therefore, this article aims to provide an objective and systematic literature review on textile-based fiber optic sensors that are used for monitoring health issues and to analyze their trends through a citation network analysis. A full-text search of journal articles was conducted in the Web of Science Core Collection, and a total of 625 studies was found, with 47 that were used as the sample. Also, CitNetExplorer was used for analyzing the research domains and trends. Three research domains were identified, among them, Flexible sensors for vital signs monitoring is the largest research cluster, and most of the articles in this cluster focus on respiratory monitoring. Therefore, this area of study should probably be on the academic radar. The collection of data on textile-based fiber optic sensors is invaluable for evaluating degree of rehabilitation, detecting diseases, preventing accidents, as well as gauging the performance and training successfulness of athletes.

Automated summary

Receptivity towards textile-based fiber optic sensors for monitoring health is increasing, but identifying knowledge structure and research trends is challenging due to the abundance of related studies. This article provides an objective literature review and analyzes trends through citation network analysis, identifying flexible sensors for vital signs monitoring as a key research domain, mainly focusing on respiratory monitoring. Data collection from textile-based fiber optic sensors is invaluable for various applications such as rehabilitation, disease detection, accident prevention, and assessing athlete performance.