Emerging medical informatics research trends detection based on MeSH terms

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Bibliometrics
• Information Science

Background:

• Medical informatics research has evolved significantly over the past decade.
• Understanding research trends is crucial for guiding future development in the field.
• Identifying emerging topics and influential journals aids in strategic planning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the research trends and evolution of medical informatics over the last 12 years.
• To propose and apply a novel method for identifying emerging topics using MeSH terms.
• To assess journal quality and identify core publications in medical informatics.

Main Methods:

• Utilized informetric methods and visualization technologies to analyze research trends.
• Developed a new method based on Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms to identify emerging topics.
• Applied the perspective factor (PF) metric to evaluate journal quality and influence.

Main Results:

• Identified two distinct stages in medical informatics research: 'medical imaging' and 'medical informatics'.
• Observed a shift in focus from healthcare data acquisition/storage to semantic analysis and clinical decision-making.
• Determined approximately 30 core journals using Bradford's Law, characterized by high PF values and trend leadership.

Conclusions:

• Medical informatics research has transitioned towards advanced analytical and decision-support applications.
• The proposed MeSH-based method effectively identifies emerging trends and research stages.
• High-perspective quality journals play a vital role in shaping the future direction of medical informatics research.