In 1979, Transportation Research Part B: Methodological (TR-Part B) split from its mother journal Transportation Research, which was founded by Dr. Frank A. Haight in 1967, to set off on a journey as an independent journal with a theme on methodological development of transportation science. Since then, TR-Part B has been a leading international journal in the field of transportation research. Motivated by the 40th anniversary of TR-Part B (1979–2019), this paper utilized a bibliometric analysis technique to present a lifetime overview of the development characteristics and contribution details of TR-Part B in the past 40 years. The data used in this analysis were derived from the Core Collection Database of Web of Science, producing a total of 2,697 papers that were regular articles and reviews published in TR-Part B during the study period from 1979 to 2019. A systematic bibliometric analysis was conducted using VOSviewer software around two main aspects. First, analysis was conducted on publication and citation structures, the leading authors, organizations, and regions/countries with the most number of academic publications in TR-Part B, as well as those individuals and sources citing TR-Part B the most. Second, a visualization of the bibliometric characteristics of TR-Part B was presented in a knowledge mapping network analysis of co-authorship and bibliographic coupling. This paper reviews the contributions made to the lifetime development of TR-Part B during the past four decades and reveals insightful bibliometric findings.

1979年，运输研究B部分：方法论（TR-B部分）从其母刊《运输研究》中分离出来，该期刊由弗兰克·A·海特（Frank A. Haight）博士于1967年创立，开始了作为独立期刊的旅程，主题是运输科学的方法论发展。从那时起，TR-B部分一直是交通运输研究领域的领先国际期刊。受TR-Part B成立40周年（1979-2019）的启发，本文采用文献计量分析技术对TR-Part B在过去40年的发展特点和贡献细节进行了终生概述。此分析中使用的数据来自Web of Science的核心馆藏数据库，在1979年至2019年的研究期间，共发表了2697篇定期发表在TR-Part B上的文章和评论。使用VOSviewer软件围绕两个主要方面进行了系统的文献计量分析。首先，分析了TR-B部分中学术出版物数量最多的出版物和引文结构，主要作者，组织和地区/国家，以及引用TR-B部分最多的个人和资料来源。第二，TR-B部分文献计量特性的可视化在共同作者和书目耦合的知识映射网络分析中进行了介绍。本文回顾了过去40年对TR-Part B终生发展的贡献，并揭示了有见地的文献计量学发现。