gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: Scientometrics, as a type of meta-research and informetrics, has a half-century history in guiding research and policy decisions. In the last two decades, we witnessed the field's expansion from bibliometrics to informetrics, webometrics (cybermetrics), and altmetrics. In this research, we show how we used scientometrics to help Crohn’s and Colitis UK and the American Association for Cancer Research, two organisations with separate needs to make futuristic decisions for their organisations.

Methods: We used the bibliographic records from Scopus, Science Citation Index-Expanded via Web of Science, and MEDLINE via Web of Science as the data and social network analysis through co-authorship, keyword co-occurrence, and co-citation maps. We analyzed the information in Web of Science, MS Excel, and VOSViewer and presented the results as network maps to create evidence for decision-making.

Results: We identified the collaboration network of authors, organisations, and countries and the trends in research topics across the disciplines. The analysis provided us with data on collaboration and research gaps as well as research interests and trends among researchers, organisations, and countries. Additional analysis showed the trend in the ways researchers are using publicly available data for research, policy, and practice. Analysing the funders of research also identified the gaps in triple helix and, in some cases, divergence and convergence. Information was presented to the organisations and revised before being used as evidence in policy and decision-making.

Discussion: Scientometric methods provide a rapid snapshot of past, current, and future trends without requiring a deeper look at the full text of the reports. Such analysis can map the existing research and identify the gaps and emerging trends in science, technology, and medicine. Scientometrics is the first step in evidence synthesis and a cheaper and faster alternative to evidence gap and map or scoping review.