Abstract
BackgroundAs studies analyzing the networks and relational structures of research topics in academic fields emerge, studies that apply methods of network and relationship analysis, such as social network analysis (SNA), are drawing more attention. The purpose of this study is to explore the interaction of medical education subjects in the framework of complex systems theory using SNA and to analyze the trends in medical education.MethodsThe authors extracted keywords using Medical Subject Headings terms from 9,379 research articles (162,866 keywords) published in 1963–2015 in PubMed. They generated an occurrence frequency matrix, calculated relatedness using Weighted Jaccard Similarity, and analyzed and visualized the networks with Gephi software.ResultsNewly emerging topics by period units were identified as historical trends, and 20 global-level topic clusters were obtained through network analysis. A time-series analysis led to the definition of five historical periods: the waking phase (1963–1975), the birth phase (1976–1990), the growth phase (1991–1996), the maturity phase (1997–2005), and the expansion phase (2006–2015).ConclusionsThe study analyzed the trends in medical education research using SNA and analyzed their meaning using complex systems theory. During the 53-year period studied, medical education research has been subdivided and has expanded, improved, and changed along with shifts in society’s needs. By analyzing the trends in medical education using the conceptual framework of complex systems theory, the research team determined that medical education is forming a sense of the voluntary order within the field of medicine by interacting with social studies, philosophy, etc., and establishing legitimacy and originality.
Highlights
As studies analyzing the networks and relational structures of research topics in academic fields emerge, studies that apply methods of network and relationship analysis, such as social network analysis (SNA), are drawing more attention
Research trend analysis has been conducted for articles published in representative journals in medical education (ME), and its results serve as fundamental measures for securing academic identity [3, 4]
From 1963, the year of the first publication related to medical education, to 2015, a total of 9,379 articles on medical education were published in PubMed, with a slow increase over time and a rapid increase since the 2000s
Summary
As studies analyzing the networks and relational structures of research topics in academic fields emerge, studies that apply methods of network and relationship analysis, such as social network analysis (SNA), are drawing more attention. Research trend analysis has been conducted for articles published in representative journals in medical education (ME), and its results serve as fundamental measures for securing academic identity [3, 4]. Analysis is being conducted from multiple angles to confirm this identity from a holistic perspective, and research methods analyzing the relationship through the application of SNA in research trend analysis are steadily increasing in the social studies field. Other examples include studies that a) focused on the main subjects studied in medical education by analyzing common research topics in medical education from six journals [4], b) analyzed the co-topics occurring frequently in ME articles and the differences
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