A Bibliometric Analysis of the Health Field Regarding Social Networks and Young People

Pilar Aparicio-Martinez, Alberto-Jesus Perea-Moreno, María Pilar Martinez-Jimenez, María Dolores Redel-Macías, Manuel Vaquero-Abellan and Claudia Pagliari
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Pilar Aparicio-Martinez: Grupo Investigación epidemiológica en Atención primaria (GC-12) del Instituto Maimónides de Departamento de Enfermería, Campus de Menéndez Pidal, Universidad de Córdoba, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
Alberto-Jesus Perea-Moreno: Departamento de Física Aplicada, Campus de Rabanales (ceiA3), Universidad de Córdoba, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
María Pilar Martinez-Jimenez: Departamento de Física Aplicada, Campus de Rabanales (ceiA3), Universidad de Córdoba, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
María Dolores Redel-Macías: Departamento Ingeniería Rural, Ed Leonardo da Vinci, Campus de Rabanales, Universidad de Córdoba, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
Manuel Vaquero-Abellan: Grupo Investigación epidemiológica en Atención primaria (GC-12) del Instituto Maimónides de Departamento de Enfermería, Campus de Menéndez Pidal, Universidad de Córdoba, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
Claudia Pagliari: eHealth Research Group, Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9YL, UK

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 20, 1-25

Abstract: Social networks have historically been used to share information and support regarding health-related topics, and this usage has increased with the rise of online social media. Young people are high users of social media, both as passive listeners and as active contributors. This study aimed to map the trends in publications focused on social networks, health, and young people over the last 40 years. Scopus and the program VOSviewer were used to map the frequency of the publications, keywords, and clusters of researchers active in the field internationally. A structured keyword search using the Scopus database yielded 11,966 publications. The results reveal a long history of research on social networks, health, and young people. Research articles were the most common type of publication (68%), most of which described quantitative studies (82%). The main discipline represented in this literature was medicine, with 6062 documents. North American researchers dominate the field, both as authors and partners in international research collaborations. The present article adds to the literature by elucidating the growing importance of social networks in health research as a topic of study. This may help to inform future investments in public health research and surveillance using these novel data sources.

Keywords: social networks; health; young people; bibliometric study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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