Analyzing and mapping the scientific structure of Iran\'s biomechanics documents using the co-occurrence analysis

Abstract

Background and aim: Network analysis is an approach in social studies that draws intuitive structures as well as mathematical and computational models and is used in studies of various fields. The purpose of present research is to map intellectual structure of the subject categories of Iran's biomechanics field as an interdisciplinary field. Materials and methods: The current research has been carried out by scientometric approach and co-word analysis of Iranian biomechanics documents indexed in Web of Science. For data analysis, VOSviewer ana SPSS were used. Findings: Based on the analysis of data, five clusters were identified: cluster 1, biomechanics of body movements, cluster 2, tissue biomechanics and orthopedics, cluster 3. Corneal biomechanics, cluster 4, computational biomechanics and cluster 5 occupational and spine biomechanics. Also, through factor analysis, in addition to these items, the biomechanics of diabetes were also identified. The clustering analysis also showed four subject clusters, except for the lack of identification of Human motion biomechanics, the rest of the clusters identified in the scientific map were also recovered and in the factor analysis, 6 factors were identified, except for the diabetes factor, other factors appeared in thematic clusters. Conclusion: The areas that are more related to injuries caused to the body during work related activities, daily movements or accidents that lead to fractures and orthopedic injuries have been more attractive and important for researchers. Also, a significant amount of research has been based on computational methods.

Keywords

• biomechanics
• co-occurrence analysis
• scientific structure mapping
• cluster analysis