Practical guidance on bibliometric analysis and mapping knowledge domains methodology – A summary

Abstract

: Bibliometric analysis and mapping knowledge domains (MKD) are emerging methods used to synthesize research and widely used in biomedicine. Traditional, complementary and integrative medicine (TCIM) can benefit from these advanced research methods to efficiently process multi-disciplinary knowledge and capture the latest development trends to direct future research. : This article introduces and summarizes some of the methodologies used in bibliometric and MKD analyses. Practical methodological guidance for selecting databases, using available software for pre-processing, data processing, visualization and analysis is provided, and their research utility, advantages and disadvantages for TCIM research are discussed. : Bibliometric analysis focuses on the bibliographic information, whilst MKD is also interested in the content inside the article. Common methods include citation analysis, co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling analysis, co-word analysis, and co-authorship analysis. Of the two most commonly used databases, Scopus should be considered for a for a TCIM analysis of research trends as it contains a wider range of literature than Web of Science. Both databases will miss most non-English language publications. The China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database is recommended for traditional Chinese medicine research, as this is the most comprehensive Chinese language database and can be processed by the available bibliometric and MKD software. : Synthesizing large quantities of published literature from different disciplines can help to identify and focus research on new topics, as well as identify potential research collaborations for future study. Depending on the TCIM topic, databases in languages other than English should be included the analysis.