Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jun;38(2):125-138.
doi: 10.1111/hir.12295. Epub 2020 Jan 29.

Application of bibliometrics in medicine: a historical bibliometrics analysis

Peter Kokol  1 , Helena Blažun Vošner  2   3 , Jernej Završnik  2
Affiliations
Free article

Application of bibliometrics in medicine: a historical bibliometrics analysis

Peter Kokol et al. Health Info Libr J. 2021 Jun.
Free article

Abstract

Background: The application of bibliometrics in medicine enables one to analyse vast amounts of publications and their production patterns on macroscopic and microscopic levels.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to analyse the historical perspective of research literature production regarding application of bibliometrics in medicine.

Methods: Publications related to application of bibliometrics in medicine from 1970 to 2018 were harvested from the Scopus bibliographic database. Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy was triangulated with the VOSViewer to identify historical roots and evolution of topics and clinical areas.

Results: The search resulted in 6557 publications. The literature production trend was positive. Historical roots analysis identified 33 historical roots and 16 clinical areas where bibliometrics was applied.

Discussion: The increase in productivity in application of bibliometrics in medicine might be attributed to increased use of quantitative metrics in research evaluation, publish or perish phenomenon and the increased use of evidence-based medicine.

Conclusion: The trend of the literature production was positive. Medicine was in the forefront of knowledge development in bibliometrics. reference publication year spectroscopy proved to be an accurate method which was able to identify most of the historical roots.

Keywords: bibliometrics; citation analysis; evidence-based medicine (EBM); research, biomedical.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Allen, E. S. (1929). Periodicals for mathematicians. Science, 70, 592-594. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.70.1825.592
    1. Alstete, J. W., Beutell, N. J., & Meyer, J. P. (2018). Evaluating scholarship and research impact: History, practices, and policy development. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing.
    1. Åström, F., & Hansson, J. (2013). How implementation of bibliometric practice affects the role of academic libraries. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 45, 316-322. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000612456867
    1. Bedi, S., & Walde, C. (2017). Transforming roles: Canadian academic librarians embedded in faculty research projects. Bedi: College & Research Libraries. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.78.3.16590
    1. Begum, M., Lewison, G., Lawler, M., & Sullivan, R. (2018). Mapping the European cancer research landscape: An evidence base for national and Pan-European research and funding. European Journal of Cancer, 100, 75-84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2018.04.017

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources