Research on return to work in European Union countries

Area of Science:

• Occupational Medicine
• Public Health
• Rehabilitation Science

Background:

• Increasing global research interest in return to work (RTW).
• Recognition of country-specific factors influencing the RTW process.
• Need for comparative analysis of RTW research across different regions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare return to work (RTW) research output between Europe and the USA.
• To characterize the landscape of RTW research within European countries.

Main Methods:

• Bibliometric analysis of Medline database using specific search strings.
• Identification of studies on RTW in Europe, USA, and globally.
• Analysis of European study characteristics using specialized bibliometric tools.

Main Results:

• A total of 4,525 RTW studies were identified globally.
• Europe produced 1,100 studies, surpassing the USA's 1,005.
• Sweden, Netherlands, Finland, and Denmark led European research output per capita; Sweden was 5.7 times more prolific than the USA.
• European research focused on occupational medicine (66%), neurology (36%), environment and public health (32%), physical medicine and rehabilitation (26%), and rheumatology (24%).

Conclusions:

• Worldwide trend of increasing RTW publications observed.
• Europe has surpassed the USA in RTW publications per capita.
• Significant disparities in publication rates exist among European nations.
• Dispersal of European RTW research across numerous journals hinders accessibility.