Bibliometric analysis of visual-motor integration skills in early childhood

Child Neuropsychol. 2026 May 3:1-22. doi: 10.1080/09297049.2026.2668386. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to analyze 490 existing studies on visual-motor integration in early childhood using bibliometric methods and to reveal the accumulated knowledge, research orientation, and thematic areas in this field of research. The data were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection database and analyzed using Bibliometrix (Rpackage) and VOSviewer software. Our findings indicate that research on visual-motor integration in early childhood spans approximately 40 years and has shown an uneven but overall increasing trend since 2010, with an annual growth rate of 6.49%. Our analyses indicate that the most productive countries in terms of publications are the United States and China. Thematic analysis revealed that intelligence, psychomotor performance, grip strength, academic achievement, autism, and handwriting fluency are the main research areas of the study. When examining the most recent topics studied, themes such as developmental coordination disorder, obesity, self-regulation, physical activity, early childhood education, mental disability, and hand-eye coordination emerged. Our study emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of visual-motor integration skills in early childhood and highlights the importance of focusing on these skills because they play a critical role in developmental stages.

PMID:42070978 | DOI:10.1080/09297049.2026.2668386