The structure and thematic relationships of articles in the field of environmental health

Abstract

Introduction: This research investigates the articles' structure and thematic relationships in environmental health. Studying scientific outputs using scientometric indicators is an effective tool for understanding scientific research.Methods: The present research was conducted with a scientometric approach to content analysis of texts using the co-occurrence method of words and social network analysis. The statistical population includes 7438 articles indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) in the field of environmental health in the period 2011-2020. Data analysis was done using cluster analysis method and strategic diagram.Results: The findings showed that in terms of the frequency of public health keywords, air pollution and climate change were the most frequent in environmental health researches. The findings related to hierarchical clustering led to the formation of 10 clusters in this area, and the clusters of "heavy metals" and "air pollution" were identified as clusters with high centrality and density.Conclusion: According to the abundance of keywords and clusters obtained from the strategic diagram, it was found that the topics of heavy metals and air pollution are emerging fields in this field. Some important issues related to environmental health, such as environmental health management, water quality management, etc., have received less attention.Keywords: Environmental Health, Thematic Clusters, Thematic Structure, Scientometrics, Co-Word Analysis.

Keywords

• environmental health
• thematic structure
• scientometrics
• co-word analysis