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. 2025 Sep;54(3):214-226.
doi: 10.1177/18333583241277952. Epub 2024 Sep 16.

System interoperability and data linkage in the era of health information management: A bibliometric analysis

Tiago Costa  1   2   3 , Teresa Borges-Tiago  1   3 , Francisco Martins  4 , Flávio Tiago  1   3
Affiliations

System interoperability and data linkage in the era of health information management: A bibliometric analysis

Tiago Costa et al. Health Inf Manag. 2025 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Across the world, health data generation is growing exponentially. The continuous rise of new and diversified technology to obtain and handle health data places health information management and governance under pressure. Lack of data linkage and interoperability between systems undermines best efforts to optimise integrated health information technology solutions. Objective: This research aimed to provide a bibliometric overview of the role of interoperability and linkage in health data management and governance. Method: Data were acquired by entering selected search queries into Google Scholar, PubMed, and Web of Science databases and bibliometric data obtained were then imported to Endnote and checked for duplicates. The refined data were exported to Excel, where several levels of filtration were applied to obtain the final sample. These sample data were analysed using Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Washington, USA), WORDSTAT (Provalis Research, Montreal, Canada) and VOSviewer software (Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands). Results: The literature sample was retrieved from 3799 unique results and consisted of 63 articles, present in 45 different publications, both evaluated by two specific in-house global impact rankings. Through VOSviewer, three main clusters were identified: (i) e-health information stakeholder needs; (ii) e-health information quality assessment; and (iii) e-health information technological governance trends. A residual correlation between interoperability and linkage studies in the sample was also found. Conclusion: Assessing stakeholders' needs is crucial for establishing an efficient and effective health information system. Further and diversified research is needed to assess the integrated placement of interoperability and linkage in health information management and governance. Implications: This research has provided valuable managerial and theoretical contributions to optimise system interoperability and data linkage within health information research and information technology solutions.

Keywords: bibliometrics; blockchain in healthcare; data linkage; e-health; health information exchange; health information governance; health information interoperability; health information management; health information systems; healthcare stakeholders; information storage and retrieval; medical informatics; system interoperability.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Data selection process and analysis.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Chronological evolution of publications by level of data selection.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Geographical distribution of articles according to their authors’ origin.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Theoretical framework to achieve high quality in interoperability and data linkage processes.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Proximity of keywords analysis by WORDSTAT: interoperability vs. linkage.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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