Hüma KÖKER, Handan GÜLER, Gülay DEMİR
Sağlık Hizmetleri Araştırma Dergisi - 2026;4(1):98-105
Rumination is defined as a pattern of repetitive, passive, and maladaptive thinking that focuses on an individual's negative emotional state. The present study aimed to examine the bibliometric characteristics of scientific publications on rumination in the field of psychology and to identify major research trends, thematic structures, and gaps in the existing literature. Publications indexed in the Scopus database between January 2014 and April 2025 were included in the analysis. Bibliometric data were retrieved from Scopus, analyzed using VOSviewer and RStudio (Bibliometrix), and visualized through the Python programming language. The keyword co-occurrence analysis indicated that rumination research has primarily focused on depression, emotion regulation, repetitive negative thinking, cognitive reappraisal, distancing, suppression, and perseverative thinking. The United States, China, and the United Kingdom were identified as the leading contributors to the scientific literature on rumination. The findings demonstrate that although the literature on depression and emotion regulation is well established, important research gaps remain in areas such as personal development, adolescence, and adverse childhood experiences. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive overview of the scientific development of rumination research by identifying current trends and research gaps, thereby offering valuable guidance for future studies and contributing to the development of preventive and clinical interventions targeting repetitive negative thinking processes.
