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 Apr 27:10:773668.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.773668. eCollection 2022.

Mapping the Research on Health Policy and Services in the Last Decade (2009-2018): A Bibliometric Analysis

Linyan Zhao  1 , Yang Zhao  2   3   4 , Jian Du  5   6 , Allissa Desloge  4 , Zhiyong Hu  1 , Gaofang Cao  1
Affiliations

Mapping the Research on Health Policy and Services in the Last Decade (2009-2018): A Bibliometric Analysis

Linyan Zhao et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Health policy and services is a continuously evolving field of research that can inform prevention and control efforts for a variety of health conditions. The "Healthy China" strategy reflects the demand to formulate health policy that suits China's national needs and goals. Applying bibliometric analysis to grasp the general situation of health policy and services research globally will be conducive to informing China's designated health plans and initiatives.

Method: A bibliometric analysis of 58,065 articles on "Health Policy and Services" topics was conducted. The document type was restricted to journal articles that were published in the Web of Science database between the time parameter of January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2018. Data was collected on indicators such as the annual number of publications in the field of health policy and services, the country where the publication is issued, the publication organization, the source journal, the frequency of citations, research hotspots, and academic areas.

Results: The overall number of articles published in Web of Science on health policy and services research has increased over time. The United States has the largest number of articles in the field. The institution with the highest number of citations in the field is Harvard University and the journal with the most published articles in the field is Health Affairs. Research hotspots in the health policy and services field include topics such as "HIV Infections," "Primary Health Care," "Delivery of Health Care," and "Health Services Accessibility."

Conclusion: Experts in the field of health policy and services globally are dedicated to researching the most effective ways to improve people's health and living standards. There is a certain gap in the depth of health policy and services research between China and developed countries and regions such as Europe or America. China must learn from foreign experience to conduct meaningful and informative research that can aid in the formulation of multi-dimensional health policies in specific areas such as environmental infectious diseases, where attention is needed in areas beyond the medical and health system.

Keywords: bibliometric analysis; health policy; health services; research hotpots; research trends.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Total number of publications of health policy and services from 2009 to 2018.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of papers of health policy and services from 2009 to 2018 by country.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Academic areas covered by health policy and services.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Research topics about health policy and services from 2016 to 2018.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Clustering analysis results of health policy and services.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council Issued the Outline of the Healthy China 2030 Plan . Available online at: http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/2016-10/25/content_5124174.htm (accessed October 2016).
    1. Ahmed MAA, Almirall J, Ngangue P, Poitras ME, Fortin M. A bibliometric analysis of multimorbidity from 2005 to 2019. J Comorb. (2020) 10:1–7. 10.1177/2235042X20965283 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sun GH. Bibliometric analysis of health services research in otolaryngology journals. Otolaryngology Head Neck Surgery. (2012) 147:841–47. 10.1177/0194599812454405 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Clarivate Analytics (2017). Available online at: http://wokinfo.com (accessed March 29, 2017).
    1. Bach XT, Frank YW, Kiet THP, Carl AL, Giang HH, Giang TV, et al. . Evolution of interdisciplinary landscapes of HIV acquired immune deficiency syndromes studies from 1983 to 2017: results from the global analysis for policy in research (GAPRESEARCH). AIDS Rev. (2019) 21:184–94. 10.24875/AIDSRev.19000083 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types