Bibliometric networks and analytics on gerontology research
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-11-2017-0247 |
| Pages | 88-100 |
| Date | 18 March 2019 |
| Published date | 18 March 2019 |
| Author | Chien-wen Shen,Duong Tuan Nguyen,Po-Yu Hsu |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information user studies,Metadata,Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Bibliometric networks and
analytics on gerontology research
Chien-wen Shen, Duong Tuan Nguyen and Po-Yu Hsu
Department of Business Administration, National Central University,
Taoyuan City, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to bibliometrically analyze the gerontology-related research articles
for a comprehensive understanding of the gerontology literature.
Design/methodology/approach –This study employed the approach of visual analytics on 32 journals
with a total of 99,204 articles published after 2000 to identify the main subfields, keywords, and growth trend.
The investigated journals are either open access online or listed in the Social Sciences Citation Index.
In addition, the 200 most frequently cited papers were analyzed through bibliographic coupling, co-word, and
co-citation analysis.
Findings –The selected most cited papers were mostly published before 2007, and psychiatry and
psychology were the top research subfields. Dementia, older adult, and Alzheimer’s disease were the three
most frequently occurring keywords, both in Author Keywords and KeyWords Plus. While coupling analysis
yielded 12 research groups, co-word analysis classified the most frequently used 20 Author Keywords into
two categories. Four research clusters were identified by the co-citation analysis.
Originality/value –This research provides a comprehensive view of the gerontology research as well as an
understanding of the subfields and their interrelations. It also provides government departments with
directions for formulating and executing policies affecting older people not only in setting academic and
professional priorities but also in understanding the key topics related to older people.
Keywords Elderly, Network analysis, Co-citation analysis, Bibliometric analysis,
Co-word analysis, Gerontology
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The aging population problem has become increasingly prominent because it has direct
impacts on the size and quality of the workforce as well as the financial integrity of health
care and pension systems (Bloom et al., 2011). Especially when the older people use more
health services than the other segments of the population, the need for gerontology research
has become more evident in relation to the economic aspects of population aging (Zubair
and Norris, 2015). Gerontology is the scientific discipline that investigates the process of
aging from middle age to old age, including the study of the physical, mental, and social
changes among older people, the social impact of population aging, and the application of
this knowledge to policies and programs (Hooyman and Kiyak, 2008). This field has
attracted many scholars to investigate its different aspects. In the early 1990s, Vasil and
Wass (1993) investigated the image of the older people in the media. They reported that the
description of older people in the media was generally inadequate and did not accurately
reflect older people in the USA. Levers et al. (2006) reviewed the theoretical and empirical
literature identifying the causes of vulnerability among older people. Topo (2009) reviewed
the literature on strategies for using science and technology to support people with
dementia and their caregivers. She determined that most studies have focused on
caregivers’needs but few have explored the benefits of using technology to support people
with dementia. Bloch et al. (2011) conducted a meta-analysis on psychotropic drugs to
elucidate the relationship between falling among older people and psychotropic drugs.
Although several studies have applied systematic analysis to the gerontology literature,
most of thesemetadata studies on aging amongolder people have investigateda specific area:
dementia and Alzheimer disease (Ansari et al., 2006; Asghar et al., 2017; Baldwin et al., 2003;
Library Hi Tech
Vol. 37 No. 1, 2019
pp. 88-100
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/LHT-11-2017-0247
Received 28 November 2017
Revised 26 March 2018
Accepted 6 April 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
88
LHT
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