Mindfulness Research in Mental Health in Vietnam: A Citation Analysis

Abstract

Background: Citation analysis is a scholarly method for evaluating citation patterns to examine the impact, knowledge exchange, and academic communication. Despite its global growth, citation analysis has been limited in evaluating mindfulness and mental health research in the Vietnamese context. Purpose: This study aims to conduct a citation analysis to systematically examine the intellectual structure and research trends in mindfulness in mental healthcare in the Vietnamese context. Methodology: The present study used quantitative citation analysis to assess the academic impact and intellectual structure of research on mindfulness in mental healthcare in the Vietnamese context. The data for this study were gathered from Clarivate's Web of Science (WoS), which includes high-quality papers from rigorously peer-reviewed journals. Records were exported from WoS and analyzed using VOSviewer 1.6.20 to construct and visualize citation, co-citation, and co-occurrence networks. The search command was employed, covering publications from 2015-01-01 to 2025-12-31. In addition, results were refined by document type (articles), language (English),               and region/country (Vietnam). As a result, only 28 relevant articles were selected for citation analysis. Findings: The data analysis reveals that mindfulness remains a comparatively current and emerging theme in mental healthcare and psychological well-being in Vietnam. The majority of publications and citations have steadily increased since 2020, suggesting growing recognition of the benefits, impacts, and applications of mindfulness in mental healthcare across several populations in Vietnam, including university students and adults. Based on an analysis of the top 10 most cited publications, the researcher found that the COVID-19 pandemic emerged as a significant catalyst for the application of mindfulness to improve individuals' well-being. The co-citation networks based on authors and sources offer valuable insights into the intellectual framework of mindfulness research in Vietnam's mental healthcare field. Implications: Improving mental health can be achieved by effectively applying mindfulness across diverse populations in the Vietnamese context. Conclusion: The current study lays a foundation for future research, aiming to strengthen academic networks, foster collaboration between institutions, and establish a more consistent, coherent, and internationally recognized framework for mindfulness in mental healthcare in Vietnam.