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. 2025 Feb;64(1):6-33.
doi: 10.1007/s10943-024-02203-4. Epub 2024 Dec 7.

Thematic Evolution and Scholarly Contributions: A Study of the Top 100 Most Cited Papers in the Journal of Religion and Health

Siddig Ibrahim Abdelwahab  1 , Manal Mohamed Elhassan Taha  1 , Abdullah Farasani  2 , Ahmed Ali Jerah  2 , Saleh M Abdullah  2 , Bassem Oraibi  1 , Yasir Babiker  3 , Hassan Ahmad Alfaifi  4 , Amal Hamdan Alzahrani  5 , Ahmed S Alamer  6 , Tawfeeq Altherwi  7 , Ibrahim Abdel Aziz Ibrahim  8 , Waseem Hassan  9
Affiliations

Thematic Evolution and Scholarly Contributions: A Study of the Top 100 Most Cited Papers in the Journal of Religion and Health

Siddig Ibrahim Abdelwahab et al. J Relig Health. 2025 Feb.

Abstract

The Journal of Religion and Health (JORH) has significantly contributed to the intersection of spirituality and healthcare since its inception in 1961. We analyzed the top 100 most cited papers published in JORH, which may provide insights into authorship patterns, institutional affiliations, and publication dynamics. The data was retrieved from the Scopus database. Details about the annual growth rate of publications, citation metrics, authorship trends, and collaboration patterns among authors, universities, and countries are provided. A total of 3,359 papers were published in JORH. The top 100 most cited papers exhibited an annual growth rate of 3.14%. The average age of these documents was 12.8 years, with each paper receiving an average of 88.87 citations. The analysis identified 289 authors contributing to these highly cited works, of which 11 authors produced single-authored documents, resulting in 12 single-authored papers. The co-authorship rate averaged 3.27 authors per document, with an international collaboration rate of 16%, indicating moderate global engagement. The authors were affiliated with 141 universities across 21 countries. Performance metrics, including the number of papers, citations, h-index, g-index, m-index, HG composite, and q2 index, highlighted the contributions of top authors. The analysis also included a focus on the thematic evolution of papers through unigram, bigram, and trigram analyses. This bibliometric study of the top 100 most cited papers in JORH may underscore the journal's role in fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and highlight areas for future research.

Keywords: Authorship patterns; Bibliometric analysis; Citation metrics; International collaboration; Journal of Religion and Health; Publication dynamics; Thematic evolution.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: None.

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