Mapping the growth and trends of knowledge management in health organizations: A bibliometric exploration

Abstract

This study performs a detailed bibliometric analysis of 168 research papers on knowledge management (KM) in healthcare from the Scopus database, spanning from 1996 to 2023. Utilizing tools like RStudio with the Biblioshiny package, VOSviewer, and KnowledgeMatrix Plus, the analysis reveals a notable increase in publications over the last ten years. The United Kingdom emerges as the top publisher, followed by the United States and Malaysia. Major themes identified include knowledge, KM, and KM systems, especially focusing on significant papers concerning KM systems in healthcare. This thorough analysis offers important insights into the current trends in KM research within healthcare settings, emphasizing key topics, influential works, leading publishing countries, and collaboration patterns. It's suggested that the analysis could improve by directly comparing these findings with existing research and discussing the strengths and limitations in comparison to other studies. Nevertheless, the results offer practical advice for writers, researchers, and practitioners for identifying gaps in research and creating effective KM strategies in healthcare. This paper adds to the existing knowledge base in the field and lays the groundwork for future research and practical implementation of KM strategies in healthcare.