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
. 2022 Mar 1;60(3):264-272.
doi: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000001685.

Mapping 2 Decades of Research in Health Services Research, Health Policy, and Health Economics Journals

Ferhat D Zengul  1 , Nurettin Oner  1 , Bunyamin Ozaydin  1 , Allyson G Hall  1 , Eta S Berner  1 , James J Cimino  2 , Christy H Lemak  1
Affiliations

Mapping 2 Decades of Research in Health Services Research, Health Policy, and Health Economics Journals

Ferhat D Zengul et al. Med Care. .

Abstract

Objective: To identify major research topics and exhibit trends in these topics in 15 health services research, health policy, and health economics journals over 2 decades.

Data sources: The study sample of 35,159 abstracts (1999-2020) were collected from PubMed for 15 journals.

Study design: The study used a 3-phase approach for text analyses: (1) developing the corpus of 40,618 references from PubMed (excluding 5459 of those without abstract or author information); (2) preprocessing and generating the term list using natural language processing to eliminate irrelevant textual data and identify important terms and phrases; (3) analyzing the preprocessed text data using latent semantic analysis, topic analyses, and multiple correspondence analysis.

Principal findings: Application of analyses generated 16 major research topics: (1) implementation/intervention science; (2) HIV and women's health; (3) outcomes research and quality; (4) veterans/military studies; (5) provider/primary-care interventions; (6) geriatrics and formal/informal care; (7) policies and health outcomes; (8) medication treatment/therapy; (9) patient interventions; (10) health insurance legislation and policies; (11) public health policies; (12) literature reviews; (13) cost-effectiveness and economic evaluation; (14) cancer care; (15) workforce issues; and (16) socioeconomic status and disparities. The 2-dimensional map revealed that some journals have stronger associations with specific topics. Findings were not consistent with previous studies based on user perceptions.

Conclusion: Findings of this study can be used by the stakeholders of health services research, policy, and economics to develop future research agendas, target journal submissions, and generate interdisciplinary solutions by examining overlapping journals for particular topics.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Bindman AB. The evolution of health services research. Health Serv Res. 2013;48:349.
    1. AHRQ. An organizational guide to building health services research capacity. 2011. Available at: https://www.ahrq.gov/funding/training-grants/hsrguide/hsrguide.html#:~:t... . Accessed June 23, 2020.
    1. Solomon EM, Wing H, Steiner JF, et al. Impact of transportation interventions on health care outcomes: a systematic review. Med Care. 2020;58:384–391.
    1. Weaver SJ, Che XX, Petersen LA, et al. Unpacking care coordination through a multiteam system lens: a conceptual framework and systematic review. Med Care. 2018;56:247–259.
    1. O’Connor SJ, Qu H, Williams ES, et al. Enriching our understanding of health care management journals: a career value and cognitive mapping approach. J Hosp Librariansh. 2019;19:87–109.

LinkOut - more resources