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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Global Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2022) | Viewed by 45535

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Dr. Malcolm Koo

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1. Graduate Institute of Long-Term Care, Tzu Chi University of Science and Technology, Hualien City, Hualien 970302, Taiwan
2. Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5T 3M7, Canada
Interests: bibilometrics; epidemiology; health survey; complementary medicine
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With advancements in analytical tools and the availability of online citation databases, the number of studies based on bibliometric methodologies has grown at an unprecedented rate. Bibliometrics can be defined as the application of mathematical and statistical methods to publications. It can be used as a supporting tool for tracking the dynamics and evolution of scientific research output, and for decision-making when setting research priorities.

This Special Issue aims to present the latest research in the field of bibliometrics. We welcome original studies and reviews of bibliometric analyses on topics related to human health, such as public health, environmental health, digital health, mental health, global health, health behavior, chronic disease, infectious disease, and geriatrics. In addition, methodological aspects of bibliometric research are welcome.

Possible topics for this Special Issue include but are not limited to the following:

Applications of bibliometrics in health and medicine;
Bibliometric evaluation of meta-analysis on health interventions;
Advancements in bibliometric research methodologies;
Comparison of different bibliometric analytical tools;
Comparison of different citation databases;
Reliability and validity issues in the application of bibliometrics; and
Reporting standards for bibliometric studies.

I look forward to your contributions to this Special Issue.

Dr. Malcolm M. Koo
Guest Editor

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

bibliometrics
productivity
publication trend
publications
scientometrics
network analysis
health research
public health

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Related Special Issue

Second Edition: Application of Bibliometrics in Health Research in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (1 article)

Published Papers (12 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 3193 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Visualization and Analysis of Air Pollution and Human Health Based on Cluster Analysis: A Bibliometric Review from 2001 to 2021

by Diyi Liu, Kun Cheng, Kevin Huang, Hui Ding, Tiantong Xu, Zhenni Chen and Yanqi Sun

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 12723; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912723 - 5 Oct 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2896

Abstract

Bibliometric techniques and social network analysis are employed in this study to evaluate 14,955 papers on air pollution and health that were published from 2001 to 2021. To track the research hotspots, the principle of machine learning is applied in this study to divide 10,212 records of keywords into 96 clusters through OmniViz software. Our findings highlight strong research interests and the practical need to control air pollution to improve human health, as evidenced by an annual growth rate of over 15.8% in the related publications. The cluster analysis showed that clusters C22 (exposure, model, mortality) and C8 (health, environment, risk) are the most popular topics in this field of research. Furthermore, we develop co-occurrence networks based on the cluster analysis results in which a more specific keyword classification was obtained. These key areas include: “Air pollutant source”, “Exposure-Response relationship”, “Public & Occupational Health”, and so on. Future research hotspots are analyzed through characteristics of the cluster groups, including the advancement of health risk assessment techniques, an interdisciplinary approach to quantifying human exposure to air pollution, and strategies in health risk assessment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Bibliometrics in Health Research)

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25 pages, 10498 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Bibliometric Analysis of Publications on the Omicron Variant from 2020 to 2022 in the Scopus Database Using R and VOSviewer

by Hasan Ejaz, Hafiz Muhammad Zeeshan, Fahad Ahmad, Syed Nasir Abbas Bukhari, Naeem Anwar, Awadh Alanazi, Ashina Sadiq, Kashaf Junaid, Muhammad Atif, Khalid Omer Abdalla Abosalif, Abid Iqbal, Manhal Ahmed Hamza and Sonia Younas

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 12407; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912407 - 29 Sep 2022

Cited by 47 | Viewed by 5294

Abstract

Human respiratory infections caused by coronaviruses can range from mild to deadly. Although there are numerous studies on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), few have been published on its Omicron variant. In order to remedy this deficiency, this study undertook a bibliometric analysis of the publishing patterns of studies on the Omicron variant and identified hotspots. Automated transportation, environmental protection, improved healthcare, innovation in banking, and smart homes are just a few areas where machine learning has found use in tackling complicated problems. The sophisticated Scopus database was queried for papers with the term “Omicron” in the title published between January 2020 and June 2022. Microsoft Excel 365, VOSviewer, Bibliometrix, and Biblioshiny from R were used for a statistical analysis of the publications. Over the study period, 1917 relevant publications were found in the Scopus database. Viruses was the most popular in publications for Omicron variant research, with 150 papers published, while Cell was the most cited source. The bibliometric analysis determined the most productive nations, with USA leading the list with the highest number of publications (344) and the highest level of international collaboration on the Omicron variant. This study highlights scientific advances and scholarly collaboration trends and serves as a model for demonstrating global trends in Omicron variant research. It can aid policymakers and medical researchers to fully grasp the current status of research on the Omicron variant. It also provides normative data on the Omicron variant for visualization, study, and application. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Bibliometrics in Health Research)

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12 pages, 688 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Top 50 Most Cited Articles on Special Olympics: A Bibliometric Analysis

by Selina Khoo, Payam Ansari, Jacob John and Mark Brooke

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(16), 10150; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191610150 - 16 Aug 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2637

Abstract

The Special Olympics was established in 1968 to “provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities”. It has gained recognition in the field of sports and healthcare of persons with intellectual disability, with a large number of dedicated researchers and institutions all over the world. However, there is an urgent need to analyze the progress and current status of this research field to identify knowledge gaps and develop this discipline. The aim of this study was to analyze the scientific production of the Special Olympics and report the bibliometric characteristics of the top 50 most cited Special Olympics publications. A systematic search was conducted on the Scopus database and bibliometric data were extracted and analyzed. The top 50 publications received 1632 citations. A total of 138 authors (63 female and 75 male) contributed to these publications. The two main areas of study were the physical health of Special Olympics athletes (n = 27) and the psycho-social health of athletes (n = 12). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Bibliometrics in Health Research)

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15 pages, 2354 KiB

Open AccessArticle

by Verónica García-Pascual, Elvira García-Beltrán and Begoña Domenech-Amigot

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(16), 9927; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19169927 - 11 Aug 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2576

Abstract

This paper analyzes, from a bibliometric viewpoint, those publications that relate COVID-19 and eye indexed in Scopus since the beginning of the pandemic, and it identifies the resulting main research lines. A bibliographic search in the Scopus database was conducted for publications that simultaneously include ocular and visual manifestations and aspects with COVID-19, from 1 January 2020 to 16 March 2021, and the obtained bibliographic information was processed with VOSviewer (v. 1.6.16). A total of 2206 documents were retrieved, and 60% were original articles. The USA published the most studies (24.6%). The retrieved documents had a total of 18,634 citations. The h index of the set of retrieved documents was 58. The Indian Journal of Ophthalmology was the most productive journal, while JAMA Neurology and The Lancet accounted for 20% of citations. Three keyword clusters representing hotspots in this field were identified. Eye-related COVID-19 research is an emerging field with plenty of scientific evidence whose growth is expected to increase as the aspects and manifestations of the disease, its treatment and the effect of vaccination on it become known. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Bibliometrics in Health Research)

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24 pages, 2329 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Top 100 Most Cited Scientific Papers in the Public, Environmental & Occupational Health Category of Web of Science: A Bibliometric and Visualized Analysis

by Vicenç Hernández-González, Josep Maria Carné-Torrent, Carme Jové-Deltell, Álvaro Pano-Rodríguez and Joaquin Reverter-Masia

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(15), 9645; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159645 - 5 Aug 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4331

Abstract

(1) Background: The main basis for the public recognition of the merits of scientists has always been the system of scientific publications and citations. Our goal is to identify and analyze the most cited articles in the Public, Environmental & Occupational Health category. (2) Methods: We searched the Web of Science for all articles published in the “Public, Environmental & Occupational Health” category up to March 2022 and selected the 100 most cited articles. We recorded the number of citations, the journal, the year of publication, quartile, impact factor, institution, country, authors, topic, type of publication and collaborations. (3) Results: 926,665 documents were analyzed. The top 100 had 401,620 citations. The journal with the most articles was the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology and the one with the highest number of citations was Medical Care. The year with the highest number of articles in the top 100 was 1998. The country with the highest percentage of publications was the USA and the most productive institution was Harvard. The most frequent keywords were bias, quality, and extension. The largest collaboration node was between the USA, Canada, Germany, Spain, Australia, France, and Sweden. (4) Conclusions: This bibliometric study on Public, Environmental & Occupational Health provides valuable information not only to identify topics of interest in the analyzed category, but also to identify the differences in the topics they study. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Bibliometrics in Health Research)

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15 pages, 5718 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of Scientometric Indicators in Publications Associated with Healthy Aging in the World, Period 2011–2020

by Eric Rojas-Montesino, Diego Méndez, Yolanda Espinosa-Parrilla, Eduardo Fuentes and Iván Palomo

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(15), 8988; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19158988 - 23 Jul 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2660

Abstract

Today, the world population is aging at a fast rate. This scenario of the accelerated aging of human populations entails increased concern for healthy aging that is associated with a rise in scientific production related to the topic. In this study, the Scopus database from Elsevier was used, with a final search carried out on 5 January 2022, and various bibliometric indicators were obtained from SciVal. The study was fundamentally intended to characterize, determine trends, and understand the evolution and current state of research on the concept of “healthy aging” in the last decade. We found that there has been proportionally greater and more accelerated growth in the subject with respect to the general productivity of the world and that countries with high life expectancies tend to have made more effort to investigate this topic. The “hottest” research areas were found to be related to the cognitive aspect and the biological mechanisms involved in aging. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Bibliometrics in Health Research)

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18 pages, 4290 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Global Trends in Physical-Activity Research of Autism: Bibliometric Analysis Based on the Web of Science Database (1980–2021)

by Xiao-Wei Feng, Maryam Hadizadeh and Jadeera Phaik Geok Cheong

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(12), 7278; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19127278 - 14 Jun 2022

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4622

Abstract

The World Health Organization has identified nervous system diseases as one of the biggest public health problems, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Considering the extensive benefits of physical activity (PA), the literature on the PA research of ASD has increased each year, but there is a lack of bibliometric analyses in this field. To investigate the research achievements worldwide, this paper adopts bibliometrics to analyze the trend in the academic literature on the PA research of ASD published from 1980 to 2021. The documents were retrieved from the Web of Science database, and the search strategy was to combine the keywords related to “physical activity” and “autism spectrum disorder” by using the Boolean operator tools “OR” and “AND” in the title. A total of 359 English documents were retrieved. Microsoft Excel, Data Wrapper, VOSviewer, and Biblioshiny were used for the visual analysis. We found that the number of published documents increased the fastest from 2017 to 2021, which may be due to the promulgation of the Global Action Plan for Physical Activity 2018–2030 and the influence of COVID-19 on the world. The United States and the University of California systems are in the leading position in this field. Cooperation among countries with different levels of development will help to jointly promote the PA research progress on ASD. The focus themes include “individual effect”, “social support” and “activity dose”. The analysis of the frontier topic points out that researchers are paying increasing attention to how to improve the health and physical fitness of this group through PA. This research clearly puts forward a comprehensive overview, theme focus, and future trends in this field, which may be helpful to guide future research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Bibliometrics in Health Research)

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13 pages, 1220 KiB

Open AccessArticle

On Health Effects of Resveratrol in Wine

by Robin Haunschild and Werner Marx

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(5), 3110; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19053110 - 6 Mar 2022

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 5140

Abstract

We analyzed 3344 publications concerned with the health-related effects of resveratrol that occurs in wine and grapes. We discovered that publication activity increased until 2010 and decreased slightly afterwards. The most frequent author keywords were classified into six groups: (1) beverage-related keywords, (2) compound-related keywords, (3) disease-related keywords, (4) effect-related keywords, (5) mechanism-related keywords, and (6) broader keywords. By means of reference publication year spectroscopy, we analyzed and discussed the most frequently cited references (i.e., key papers) within the publication set. A rather large portion of the key papers exhibit a deliberative or positive attitude and report on the health effects of resveratrol, although limited data in humans preclude drawing unambiguous conclusions on its health-related benefits. From our analysis, we could not identify specific publications that provide a distinct change of direction of the ongoing scientific discourse. Moderate red wine consumption seems to bear the potential of being health promoting, whereas excessive alcohol consumption can induce liver cirrhosis and cancer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Bibliometrics in Health Research)

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27 pages, 4182 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Bibliometric Analysis of the Literature on Norovirus Disease from 1991–2021

by Ropo E. Ogunsakin, Oluwakemi Ebenezer and Themba G. Ginindza

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(5), 2508; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052508 - 22 Feb 2022

Cited by 37 | Viewed by 5278

Abstract

Norovirus (NoV) is one of the oldest recognized diseases and the leading causal pathogen for acute gastroenteritis (AGE) worldwide. Though numerous studies have been reported on NoV disease, limited research has explored the publication trends in this area. As a result, the objective of this work was to fill the void by conducting a bibliometric study in publication trends on NoV studies as well as discovering the hotspots. The Web of Science central assemblage database was hunted for publications from 1991 to 2021 with “norovirus” in the heading. Microsoft Excel 2016, VOSviewer, R Bibliometrix, and Biblioshiny packages were deployed for the statistical analysis of published research articles. A total of 6021 published documents were identified in the Web of Science database for this thirty-year study period (1991–2021). The analyses disclosed that the Journal of Medical Virology was the leading journal in publications on norovirus studies with a total of 215 published articles, the Journal of Virology was the most cited document with 11,185 total citations. The United States of America (USA) has the most significant productivity in norovirus publications and is the leading country with the highest international collaboration. Analysis of top germane authors discovered that X. Jiang (135) and J. Vinje (119) were the two top relevant authors of norovirus publications. The commonly recognized funders were US and EU-based, with the US emerging as a top funder. This study reveals trends in scientific findings and academic collaborations and serves as a leading-edge model to reveal trends in global research in the field of norovirus research. This study points out the progress status and trends on NoV research. It can help researchers in the medical profession obtain a comprehensive understanding of the state of the art of NoV. It also has reference values for the research and application of the NoV visualization methods. Further, the research map on AGE obtained by our analysis is expected to help researchers efficiently and effectively explore the NoV field. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Bibliometrics in Health Research)

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11 pages, 2876 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Radiolucent Lesions of the Jaws: An Attempted Demonstration of the Use of Co-Word Analysis to List Main Similar Pathologies

by Andy Wai Kan Yeung

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(4), 1933; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19041933 - 9 Feb 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3195

Abstract

(1) Background: Many radiolucent jaw lesions exist, and they often show a radiographic resemblance, rendering diagnosis a challenging act. Closely related lesions should be frequently mentioned together in the academic literature, which might be helpful for junior practitioners in determining their differential diagnosis. The usefulness of bibliometric analysis in this respect has yet to be demonstrated. (2) Methods: This study evaluated academic publications on radiolucent jaw lesions, as indexed by the Web of Science Core Collection database. The mentions of radiolucent jaw lesions were extracted from the complete bibliographic records of the publications, and co-word analyses were conducted with the aid of VOSviewer. (3) Results: Based on 1897 papers, visualization maps were synthesized to evaluate co-occurrences of the radiolucent jaw lesions. Ameloblastoma was frequently mentioned together with odontogenic keratocyst, dentigerous cyst, and radicular cyst. Osseous dysplasia was co-mentioned with osteomyelitis, ossifying fibroma, odontoma, fibrous dysplasia, and apical periodontitis. (4) Conclusions: The co-word analysis, a form of bibliometric analysis, could demonstrate a relatedness of radiolucent jaw lesions that could be considered at differential diagnosis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Bibliometrics in Health Research)

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Review

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22 pages, 2984 KiB

Open AccessReview

Mapping Scientific Productivity Trends and Hotspots in Remdesivir Research Publications: A Bibliometric Study from 2016 to 2021

by Ropo E. Ogunsakin, Oluwakemi Ebenezer, Maryam A. Jordaan, Michael Shapi and Themba G. Ginindza

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(14), 8845; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148845 - 21 Jul 2022

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2501

Abstract

In response to global efforts to control and exterminate infectious diseases, this study aims to provide insight into the productivity of remdesivir research and highlight future directions. To achieve this, there is a need to summarize and curate evidence from the literature. As a result, this study carried out comprehensive scientific research to detect trends in published articles related to remdesivir using a bibliometric analysis. Keywords associated with remdesivir were used to access pertinent published articles using the Scopus database. A total of 5321 research documents were retrieved, primarily as novel research articles (n = 2440; 46%). The number of publications increased exponentially from 2020 up to the present. The papers published by the top 12 institutions focusing on remdesivir accounted for 25.69% of the overall number of articles. The USA ranked as the most productive country, with 906 documents (37.1%), equivalent to one-third of the global publications in this field. The most productive institution was Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, in the USA (103 publications). The New England Journal of Medicine was the most cited, with an h-index of 13. The publication of research on remdesivir has gained momentum in the past year. The importance of remdesivir suggests that it needs continued research to help global health organizations detect areas requiring instant action to implement suitable measures. Furthermore, this study offers evolving hotspots and valuable insights into the scientific advances in this field and provides scaling-up analysis and evidence diffusion on remdesivir. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Bibliometrics in Health Research)

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Other

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11 pages, 648 KiB

Open AccessProtocol

Global Mapping of Interventions to Improve Quality of Life of Patients with Cancer: A Protocol for Literature Mining and Meta-Analysis

by Long Bao Nguyen, Linh Gia Vu, Xuan Thanh Nguyen, Anh Linh Do, Cuong Tat Nguyen, Laurent Boyer, Pascal Auquier, Guillaume Fond, Carl A. Latkin, Roger C. M. Ho and Cyrus S. H. Ho

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(23), 16155; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316155 - 2 Dec 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1914

Abstract

Cancer led to nearly 10 million deaths in 2020, as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO). Consequently, both biomedical therapeutics and psychological interventions have been implemented to decrease the burden of this non-communicable disease. However, the research conducted so far has only described some aspects of these interventions, which may increase the health-related quality of life of cancer patients. Therefore, a systematic review is necessary to depict an overall picture of the cancer interventions globally. Then, the impact of these interventions on the preference-based health-related quality of life of cancer patients may be synthesized. The protocol is developed using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. The Web of Science database is used to retrieve the literature using four keyword terms: quality of life (QoL), cancer, interventions, and health utility. Then, we draw the global mapping diagram and conduct the meta-analysis for this research. Additionally, longitudinal measurements are used to estimate the changes in the health utility of patients during the interventions. Thus, this systematic review can provide insight into the impact of interventions on increasing the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of cancer patients. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Bibliometrics in Health Research)

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