Bibliometric mapping of the research trends on software architecture for e-Health systems

Abstract

The association between technology and social development is particularly important in the health field, pointing to research in e-Health to optimize health services. This paper aimed to carry out a bibliometric mapping of software architecture for e-Health systems, so an exploratory and descriptive study was performed, with a quantitative approach and based on secondary data from ISI Web of Science. The bibliometric indicators showed 127 different papers in 97 sources, with 16.92 citations per paper and a collaboration index of 4.18 with higher scientific productivity from Europe and North America. Scattered networks of co-citation of the sources and co-occurrence of the keywords were identified, pointing to three main approaches in the research theme, including (i) a managerial view of e-Health systems based on the development of frameworks; (ii) data privacy in health services; (iii) and application of digital technologies, especially Big Data, IoT, Cloud Computing, and Blockchain as corroborated by the word cloud. In addition, for the evaluation of the countries that have the largest number of scientific production and to assess the most used keywords, a descriptive statistical analysis was performed to organize the dataset and to obtain the measures of centrality, dispersion, and frequency. This paper contributes to direct the discussion about software architecture and its multifaceted aspects in the health field, guiding architects and practitioners in their e-Health projects.