Bibliometrics and social network analysis of compassion fatigue in China from 2008 to 2018

Abstract

Objective To understand the research status, research hotspots and development trend of compassion fatigue with the bibliometric analysis on compassion fatigue related literatures in China so as to provide a reference for future research and development. Methods We retrieved compassion fatigue related literatures of our country published in China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) , WanFang data, Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM) , VIP, Web of Science and PubMed from January 2008 to July 2018. The included literatures were multidimensionally analyzed with the bibliometric analysis and social network analysis. SPSS 22.0 was used to data statistical treatment. Results Finally a total of 143 literatures were included with 138 Chinese literatures. The volume of literatures showed a tendency to increase year by year. There were 120 journal articles and 9 (6.3%) of them were published in Chinese Journal of Modern Nursing with the most publications. Ranked by the areas of the first author, a total of 96 (67.1%) literatures were published in the top 10 areas and 16 (11.2%) literatures were published in Hubei Province with the most publications. The rate of coauthor was 85.3% with 3 for the cooperation degree and core authors were 20. There were 31 literatures funded by research fund with 21.7% for the ratio of fund-sponsored articles. The number of quotations were 2106 with 17.6% for the rate of quotation each article. Research type focused on investigations and interviews with 106 articles accounting for 74.1%. A total of 4 key words were with word frequency equal to or greater than 14 including compassion fatigue, nurses, empathy fatigue and influencing factors. Conclusions Researches on compassion fatigue of our country are in a development stage. We should expand the breadth and depth of the researches, increase the investment of research fund, strengthen cooperation among institutions and promote the establishment of professional core team so as to promote the development of researches on compassion fatigue of our country. Key words: Bibliometrics; Compassion fatigue; Key words; Social network analysis