Analysis and mapping of global research publications on shift work (2012-2021)

Abstract

Background: The main objective of the study was to identify research trends, collaboration patterns, and the most impactful publications in the field of shift work.

Methods: Documents published in scientific journals indexed in the Scopus database on shift work were retrieved and analyzed using the title/abstract search methodology. The study period was from January 1st, 2012, to December 31st, 2021.

Results: Two thousand three hundred twenty-eight documents were retrieved with an h-index of 71 and an average number of 4.5 authors per document. The cumulative number of publications showed a linear growth pattern, while that of citations showed an exponential pattern. The most frequent author keywords, excluding keywords related to shift work, were sleep, fatigue, and nursing. The average annual growth rate was 4.3, and the average doubling time was 3.2. No significant correlation was found between the number of publications and national income among prolific countries. Cross-country research collaboration was weak while the degree of author-author collaboration was relatively high. The Chronobiology International journal was the most prolific, while Harvard University was the most active institution in the field of shift work.

Conclusions: Given the volume and the negative health impact of shift work, better human resource management is needed to create safer and healthier working schedules.

Keywords: Bibliometric analysis; Research publications; Shift work; Visualization maps.

Fig. 1

Network visualization map of most frequently occurring (n = 5) author keywords in the retrieved documents on shift work (2012–2021). The node size is proportional to the frequency of occurrence while the distance between keywords reflects relatedness

Fig. 2

Cumulative number of publications and citations on shift work (2012–2021)

Fig. 3

Network visualization map of cross-country (international) research collaboration in the field of shift work (2012–2021). Countries with minimum contribution of 50 publications were included (n = 20). Countries with the large node size have the highest number of publications with international authors. The thickness of the connecting line denotes strength of research collaboration

Fig. 4

Network visualization map of author-author degree of collaboration in the field of shift work (2012–2021). Authors with minimum contribution of 10 publications were included (n = 51). Only authors who existed in a research network were shown (n = 45). Authors with similar color constituted a collaborative research network