Mapping the field: the application and visualisation of bibliometrics in healthcare research

With the explosive growth of published articles across the medical and health fields, the need for new efficient approaches to synthesise vast amounts of knowledge has emerged. As at August 2020, there were 32 million papers in PubMed, the biomedical database, and nearly 80 systematic reviews are published every day. Trying to keep up with the latest research in one speciality area is an insurmountable challenge. Literature reviews play an essential role in academic research to gather existing knowledge and to examine the state of a field. In conjunction with traditional review methods, bibliometric methods are fast emerging as a useful approach for synthesising research areas of interest through an analysis of publication metadata and metrics, such as citation counts, journal impact, countries and affiliations, and author impact. Bibliometric visualisation techniques are also increasingly applied to identify trends over time, and to map influential publications, topics areas, and scientific collaboration, through novel keyword (see Fig 1a), definition (see Fig 1b) and author networks.

The aim of this presentation will be to demonstrate how we have successfully applied bibliometric analysis and visualisation techniques to synthesise large numbers of papers when conducting literature reviews. In this presentation, we will discuss how researchers can use bibliometrics in their literature reviews and offer several examples of how bibliometric approaches can be used to visualise the results. The advantages and limitations of such approaches will also be outlined, such as the potential for automation of some processes. Further, we will offer practical suggestions for how the data extraction and analysis processes can be undertaken in a collaborative fashion, through the involvement of researchers at vastly different stages of their careers – ranging from PACE students to senior researchers.