Thematic Convergence of Iran's Scientific Productions in the Field of Health

Abstract

Introduction: Considering the importance of health domain and proposed policies in the comprehensive scientific health plan, this study aimed to investigate the convergence of subjects in Iranian scientific productions in the field of health. Methods: For data analysis in this review article, co-occurrence analysis of vocabulary and drawing a scientific map and social network analysis methods were used. The study population included all scientific productions in the field of health indexed in the Scopus database during the years 2007-2016, which contained a total of 8616 documents. Results: The largest share of science production among the subdomains of the health was observed in the field of sports science. In terms of convergence and proximity, the topics of physical therapy, and sports therapy and rehabilitation were convergent with all the constituents of health domain, which suggested that this area included the concepts from other constituent areas of the health domain. The highest degree of convergence in terms of common concepts was observed between physical therapy, sports therapy and rehabilitation, and radiological and ultrasound technology. Finally, the results of conceptual maps showed 3 thematic convergence clusters in the field of health. Conclusion: There are a number of sub-areas of health that have a thematic or content convergence, indicating common concepts between them. Therefore, this study help the specialists in this field to create interdisciplinary fields or new research fronts between the areas with higher convergence.

Keywords

• Biomedical Research
• Bibliometrics
• Interdisciplinary Research
• Iran