Abstract

Aim: Studies on thirdhand smoke (THS) have been steadily increasing in the literature. This study aimed to examine the scientific development of the THS concept, as well as the prominent authors, journals, and research trends.

Methods: This bibliometric study was conducted using the Web of Science Core Collection database. The search strategy included the combinations: “third hand smoking,” “thirdhand smoking,” “third-hand smoking,” “thirdhand smoke,” “third-hand smoke,” and “third hand smoke.” Only articles and review articles written in English were included. A total of 316 publications on THS, authored by 251 researchers from 43 countries, were identified between 2009 and 2025. Data were analyzed and visualized using VOSviewer.

Results: The concept first appeared in 2009. The highest number of publications was in 2021 (n = 41), while the lowest was in 2009 (n = 2). These publications received 6888 citations in total, excluding 4529 self-citations. The average number of citations per publication was 21,8, with an H-index of 41. Nicotine & Tobacco Research published the most THS-related articles (n = 19), whereas Tobacco Control was the most cited journal (n = 105; TLS = 4343). The United States, China, and Türkiye were the leading contributors. The most cited author was Matt, G.E. (n = 92; TLS = 3385). Common keywords co-occurring with THS included “tobacco”, “secondhand smoke”, “passive smoking”, “oxidative stress” and “smoking”.

Conclusion: Research on THS has grown significantly over the past 15 years. It is recommended that future studies on tobacco control address the concept of thirdhand smoke.

Keywords: smoke, tobacco, tobacco smoke pollution, third hand smoke

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Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

How to cite

Odacı, N., & Çürük, M. N. (2025). Bibliometric analysis of studies on the concept of third-hand smoke. Turkish Journal of Tobacco Control, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.64511/TJTC.2025.25