Abstract
The importance of reliability engineering has increased in recent years. Many studies have been carried out into reliability in a variety of research domains, largely focused on industrial engineering, mechanical engineering, electronics engineering, materials engineering and statistical science. However, most of these studies were carried out without collaboration between different areas of study. Here, we analyze research papers and patents regarding reliability that were published during the past five years, and describe core trends in the development of reliability technology from a multidisciplinary perspective.