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. 2023 Mar 20:10:1031713.
doi: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1031713. eCollection 2023.

Knowledge domain, research hotspots and frontiers in physiology teaching reforms from 2012 to 2021: A bibliometric and knowledge-map analysis

Jia Xu  1   2 , Shimeng Sun  1 , Yadong Zhao  1 , Qing Ma  1   2
Affiliations

Knowledge domain, research hotspots and frontiers in physiology teaching reforms from 2012 to 2021: A bibliometric and knowledge-map analysis

Jia Xu et al. Front Med (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Objective: To identify author collaborations and impact; participating countries, institutions, and journals; evaluate the knowledge base; and analyze research hotspots and frontiers in teaching reforms in physiology.

Methods: Articles and reviews related to teaching reforms in physiology published between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2021, were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection. Two Scientometric software applications (CiteSpace 5.7 and VOSviewer 1.6.15) were used to perform bibliometric and knowledge-map analysis, generate network maps, and identify research trends and top keywords, authors, co-cited authors, institutions, countries, journals, and references.

Results: The search identified a total of 2,882 papers in 466 academic journals by 13,895 authors from 4,072 organizations in 67 countries/regions. Physiology teaching reform-related publications increased rapidly over time. Arango-Lasprilla and Rivera published the most papers, while Moseley had the most co-citations. Active collaborations among physiology researchers were noted. Advances in Physiology Education published the most papers on physiology teaching reforms and was also the top co-cited journal in the Medicine/Medical/Clinical, Psychology/Education/Health, and Neurology/Sports/Ophthalmology fields. The United States and University of California published the most physiology teaching publications in the search criteria. Ten references (research articles and reviews) on mechanisms and diseases were identified as the knowledge base. The mainstream research directions were education, Alzheimer's disease, performance, physiology, and risk factors. Mental health and emotion regulation are increasing in significance and may become new hotspots. The research trend to move from the field of pain pathogenesis to the field of neuropsychiatry has become increasingly clear. This tendency away from peripheral system-based disorders to central system-based orders is inextricably linked to further developments in physiological understanding of the brain.

Conclusion: This study analyzed the research hot spots and frontiers of teaching reforms on in physiology using bibliometric and visual methods. Based on the results, rehabilitation, neurosciences, and infectious disease are hot topics in physiology. In particular, the pathogenesis of neurological diseases, treatment strategies, and technology updates have gradually become research hotspots. We predict that this trend is closely related to the implementation of brain research programs in various countries. These findings provide helpful references for scholars focusing on physiology education.

Keywords: bibliometrics; knowledge-map; physiology; teaching reform; visualization.

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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
Annual trend of Physiology teaching reform research.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The over-lay map of co-authors in Physiology teaching reforms.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The density map of co-organizations (A). The density map of co-country in Physiology teaching reforms (B).
Figure 4
Figure 4
(A) The network of keywords co-occurrence. (B) The evolution of Top 5 keywords. (C) Zipf’s law data fitting of key words in physiology teaching reform.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The network of keywords clusters in subject categories.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The annual top 10 keywords of physiology teaching reforms were showed by keywords time zone view in 2012–2021.
Figure 7
Figure 7
(A) The keywords of physiology teaching reforms were showed in keywords timeline view in 2012–2021. (B) The top 20 keywords with citation bursts.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The dual-map overlay of journals related to physiology teaching reform research. The citing journals were at left, the cited journals were on the right, and the colored path represents citation relationship.
Figure 9
Figure 9
The network of co-cited references in physiology teaching reform research.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Top 26 references with the strongest citation bursts (sorted by the beginning year of burst). The blue bars mean the reference had been published; the red bars mean citation burstness.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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