2021/12/16 by Anton Ninkov, Jason R. Frank, Lauren A. Maggio · 9 citations
Computer Science · Decision Sciences · #Web visibility and informetrics #scientometrics and bibliometrics research
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s40037-021-00695-4
openalex publication_date 2021/12/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Bibliometrics is the study of academic publishing that uses statistics to describe publishing trends and to highlight relationships between published works. Likened to epidemiology, researchers seek to answer questions about a field based on data about publications (e.g., authors, topics, funding) in the same way that an epidemiologist queries patient data to understand the health of a population. In this Eye Opener, the authors introduce bibliometrics and define its key terminology and concepts, including relational and evaluative bibliometrics. Readers are introduced to common bibliometric methods and their related strengths and weaknesses. The authors provide examples of bibliometrics applied in health professions education and propose potential future research directions. Health professions educators are consumers of bibliometric reports and can adopt its methodologies for future studies.