Scientometric Evaluation of Published Articles in Travel Medicine and Global Health

Abstract

Introduction: Travel medicine has become firmly established as a medical discipline and, as such, it should undergo periodic assessment of its productivity. Scientometrics is a field of study related to data science, which concerns itself with the measurement and analysis of published scholarly literature. Methods: A scientometric evaluation was conducted of all 240 articles published through February 2021 in the International Journal of Travel Medicine and Global Health (IJTMGH), one of the few academic journals dedicated to the study of travel medicine. Results: The majority of articles belonged to the general category of travel medicine (62%, n=149), with 38% of articles (n=91) being focused on global health and non-travel related infectious diseases. The 149 travel medicine-related articles mapped onto the Body of Knowledge syllabus of the International Society of Travel Medicine, with the majority of articles addressing the domain of pre-travel assessment of travellers (49.7%, n=74), including the sub-domains of patient evaluation, special populations of travellers, special itineraries, prevention and self-treatment, and communication of risks to travellers. The most common thematic designation of IJTMGH articles related to medical and health tourism (12.1%, n=29). High levels of geographic diversity, multi-authorship and inter-institutional collaboration were observed in the journal. The subject matter of the most cited and most popular articles reflected the broad coverage of travel medicine and global health by IJTMGH. Conclusion: We recommend that future bibliometric and citation analyses be performed, which will further enhance our understanding of the evolution of these dynamic fields of academic study.