A comprehensive analysis of the development trajectory and emerging trends in cultivating elite innovative talents within Chinese higher education institutions

Top-tier innovative talents constitute a pivotal foundation for the establishment of a modern socialist nation, holding significant strategic implications for achieving autonomous talent cultivation in our country. This investigation employs CiteSpace 6.2.R7 and VOS viewer software, utilizing Chinese literature from the CNKI database as the research subject. It comprehensively reviews the research advancements and accomplishments in cultivating top innovative talents within domestic universities over the past two decades, based on annual publication volume, high-output institutions, prominent journals, and highly cited literature. The study systematically analyzes the fundamental characteristics of research on cultivating top innovative talents in universities. Through keyword co-occurrence and cluster analysis, the research topics are synthesized, and the quality of the papers is evaluated. By leveraging keyword emergence analysis, the investigation identifies research hotspots, trends, and frontier developments. The findings are synthesized to provide valuable references and insights for the cultivation and exploration of top-tier innovative talents in Chinese universities.