Main Research Trends Research Articles

Fuzzy Soft Set Theory Applications in Medical Diagnosis: A Comprehensive Review and the Roadmap for Future Studies

This paper provides a literature review addressing the use of soft sets in medical diagnosis. Distinguishing itself from the existing literature, the study offers a comprehensive analysis of how fuzzy soft sets can be integrated into diagnostic processes, highlighting a novel fusion of fuzzy and soft sets in medical applications. Any soft set on a countably infinite universe can be regarded as a fuzzy set, recognizing the limitations of traditional diagnostic tools in dealing with vague and incomplete information, our research aims to utilize the flexibility and comprehensiveness of fuzzy soft sets to enhance decision-making accuracy in medical scenarios. The primary objective of this research is to present a thorough and critical analysis of fuzzy soft set theory in medical diagnosis, aiming to establish it as a fundamental approach in the field. By combining all of these results, we can generate a comprehensive picture of the connections between the many theories that account for fuzziness and imprecision, which helps to fill in the blanks left by recent surveys. The review will focus on identifying the main research trends in this field: the primary research topics that soft set theory addresses in medical applications, the community is currently facing and the major theoretical concepts used to study these topics. The primary objective of this review is to assist in the identifying of emerging research directions. Some of these trends are promising and will help shape a new role for soft set theory in the area of medical applications. The fusion of fuzzy and soft sets in medical applications represents a crucial and necessary stage in the research and diagnosis procedures. Key results include the study on development of algorithms and models that outperform traditional methods in accuracy and reliability.

A Two-Decade Bibliometric Analysis of Laser in Ophthalmology: From Past to Present.

Laser therapy has been proven as an effective technique for managing ophthalmological disorders. To guide future research, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of laser applications in eye diseases from 1990 to 2022, aiming to identify key themes and trends. We retrieved 3027 publications from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). Bibliometrix was used for science mapping of the literature, while VOSviewer and CiteSpace were applied to visualize co-authorship, co-citation, co-occurrence, and bibliographic coupling networks. From a co-citation reference network, we identified 52 distinct clusters. Our analysis uncovered three main research trends. The first trend revolves around the potential evolution of corneal laser surgery techniques, shifting from the treatment of refractive errors to broader applications in biomedical optics. The second trend illustrates the advancement of laser applications in treating a range of disorders, from retinal and ocular surface diseases to glaucoma. The third trend focuses on the innovative uses of established technologies. This study offers significant insights into the evolution of laser applications in ophthalmology over the past 30 years, which will undoubtedly assist scientists in directing further research in this promising field.

A critical review of the feasibility of emerging technologies for improving safety behavior on construction sites

Introduction: Advancements in the modern construction industry have contributed to the development of a range of technology-based interventions to improve the safety behavior of front-line construction workers. Notwithstanding the extensive research on safety behavior, there is still a paucity of research on assessing technology interventions of safety behavior to provide an overview of their strengths and limitations. The present study aims to bridge this gap in the literature and identify the main trends of research. Method: A systematic review and critical content analysis are adopted to capture an overview of the state of knowledge on safety behavior technologies. As a result of searching Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases in the period from Jan 2010 to Feb 2023, a total of 359 potential studies went through the systematic screening process and finally, 48 representative studies were selected followed by an assessment of the feasibility and applicability of the safety behavior technologies. Results: It was found that safety behavior technology is characterized by seven technologies including virtual-reality simulation (T1), eye-tracking technology (T2), prediction modeling of safety behavior (T3), computer-based training (T4), drone/sensor-based hazard monitoring (T5), vision-based behavior monitoring (T6), and real-time positioning (T7). Conclusions: This research improves understanding of the status of safety behavior technologies and provides a critical review of their feasibility from the perspective of four assessment criteria including application, limitation, benefit, and feasibility. Practical applications: The categorizations of technologies add value to the body of knowledge in terms of generic requirements for their implementation and adaptation on construction sites.

The 100 top-cited articles on chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder: A bibliometric analysis.

Tremendous scientific research has been conducted on chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder (CKD-MBD), while only a few bibliometric analyses have been conducted in this field. In this study, we aim to identify 100 top-cited articles on CKD-MBD and analyze their main characteristics quantitatively. Web of Science was used to search the 100 top-cited articles on CKD-MBD. The following data were extracted and analyzed from the selected articles: author, country of origin, institutions, article type, publication journal, publication year, citation frequency, and keywords. Among the 100 top-cited articles, the number of citations ranged between 181 to 2157, with an average number of citations of approximately 476. These articles were published in 23 different journals, with Kidney International publishing the most articles (n = 32). The largest contributor was the United States (n = 63), which was also the country that conducted the most collaborative studies with other nations. The University of Washington contributed the largest number of articles (n = 37). Block GA was the most common first-author (n = 7). The majority of articles were clinical research articles (n = 73), followed by reviews (n = 15). Although almost half of the articles had no keywords, the most concerned research direction was CKD-associated bone disease. This is the first bibliometric study of the 100 top-cited articles on CKD-MBD. This study provides the main academic interests and research trends associated with CKD-MBD research.

Digital transformation research trends in Ukraine and the world: meta & bibliometric analysis

In this work, the main trends in research and publication activity in digital transformation in the world and Ukraine are analyzed using meta- and bibliometric analysis. For this purpose, bibliometric data on scientific publications on the topic of digital transformations in the Google Scholar and Scopus databases were selected, which were additionally analyzed using the VOSviewer software package. Based on filtering the results obtained, an array was formed that included 366 scientific publications for 2019–2023 in Ukrainian in the Google Scholar database and 3,703 scientific publications in English for 2020–2023 in the Scopus database. Dynamic time analysis revealed a significant surge of scientific interest in the topic of digital transformations in recent years, while structural analysis revealed the multi-industry structure of existing research. The creation of bibliographic maps of keywords and publication maps allowed us to form an idea of the main thematic areas of research in the context of digital transformations and their opinion leaders. The data obtained became the basis for formulating recommendations for further areas of research in digital transformation, in particular, on the development of a unified roadmap for the digital transformation of education at different educational qualification levels and for various specialties. This will contribute to the formation of a single systemic approach to the digital transformation of Ukraine as a guarantee for the state’s sustainable development, well-being, strengthening of national security, speeding up the pace of European integration processes, as well as promoting national interests at the international level.

A Bibliometric Literature Review of Digital Supply Chain: Trends, Insights, and Future Directions

This paper presents a comprehensive bibliometric literature review that aims to analyze and synthesize the existing research on the digital supply chain. By employing a bibliometric approach, this study provides insights into the trends, key research themes, influential authors, and relevant journals in the field of DSC. Furthermore, it explores the geographical distribution of publications, collaboration networks among researchers, and the evolution of research topics. The comprehensive bibliometric analysis of literature in DSC is performed through data visualization and content analysis. Data visualization enables the analysis of publication performance and science mapping by examining prolific journals, authors, countries, influential papers, and conducting citation, co-citation, and bibliographic coupling analyses. Content analysis is carried out by examining the occurrence and clustering of textual data. The bibliometric literature review and content analysis were carried out on 114 documents indexed in the Scopus database, which were selected using the Prisma protocol. The data visualization analysis of the literature review through VOSviewer draws the landscape of scholarly research in the digital supply chain. Based on the research landscape, the content analysis demonstrates the significant effects that the incorporation of digital technology into supply chain management has had on several important research topics. The main research trends in digital supply chain according to the content analysis are: intelligent supply chain management, technologies to drive supply chains performance, circular supply chains, information reliability in supply chains, and sustainable supply chains. The findings of this review highlight the transformative potential of digital technologies in supply chain management and its performance optimization.

Mapping the knowledge domains of COVID-19 and firm performance: main research trends and future direction

Mapping the knowledge domains of COVID-19 and firm performance: main research trends and future direction

Circulating microRNAs in Cancer: A 5-Year Update with a Focus on Breast and Lung Cancers.

Circulating microRNAs (c-miRNAs) are non-coding RNAs found in different bodily fluids and are highly investigated for their prognostic potential and biological role in cancer. In this narrative review, we provide an update of the last five years' published papers (2018-2023) on PubMed about c-miRNAs in cancer research. We aim to capture the latest research interests in terms of the highly studied cancers and the insights about c-miRNAs. Our analysis revealed that more than 150 papers focusing on c-miRNAs and cancer were published in the last five years. Among these, there was a high prevalence of papers on breast cancer (BC) and lung cancer (LC), which are estimated to be the most diagnosed cancers globally. Thus, we focus on the main evidence and research trends about c-miRNAs in BC and LC. We report evidence of the effectiveness of c-miRNAs in hot topics of cancer research, such as, early detection, therapeutic resistance, recurrence risk and novel detection platform approaches. Moreover, we look at the deregulated c-miRNAs shared among BC and LC papers, focusing on miR-21 and miR-145. Overall, these data clearly indicate that the role of c-miRNAs in cancer is still a hot topic for oncologic research and that blood is the most investigated matrix.

Mapping the intellectual structure and evolution of information technology and auditing: a bibliometric review

Purpose- The goal of this study is to conduct a bibliometric analysis of papers relevant to information technology (IT) and auditing that were published in the Web of Science Core Collection database between 1978 and 2022. Methodology- This study does a bibliometric analysis of 2991 audit and information technology publications from a pool of 7738. It works in two steps: descriptive performance metrics and co-word analysis. The descriptive metrics include publishing patterns, productive nations and authors, effect on certain areas and journals, number of citations by country, and publications with the highest citations. The co-occurrence analysis maps the ties between concepts by utilizing social network analysis methods to investigate the field's interconnections. Findings- This study identifies six major trends in IT and auditing: increased technology use in internal auditing, the demand for information security expertise, transparency in the digital age, technology for ethical auditing, cloud-based auditing with blockchain, and post-COVID IT continuous auditing standards. These trends highlight the need for auditors to adapt to evolving technology and ethical considerations, prioritizing data security and privacy. Additionally, the survey reveals key authors, publications, and countries in this field, offering valuable insights for industry leaders and potential research collaborations. Conclusion- This study provides a complete overview of the topic of IT and auditing by integrating several methodological techniques. This study provides direction for future research in addition to offering significant insight into the main research trends, issues, and problems in this subject. Keywords: Information technology, auditing, co-occurrence analysis, bibliometric analysis. JEL Codes: M41, M42

Female stereotypes and female empowerment in advertising: A systematic literature review and future research agenda

AbstractThis systematic literature review (SLR) seeks to foster the presence of feminism and women's diversity in advertising through a systematic, transparent, and rigorous framework‐based review and the 4Ws1H (What, Where, Why, and HoW) analysis. The study provides three main contributions. First, it offers an innovative conceptual framework for examining female stereotypes and female empowerment in advertising by categorizing the 21st‐century literature into the four evolutive eras of feminism: prefeminism, feminism, postfeminism, and the fourth wave of feminism. Second, this SLR reveals prevailing research trends, predominant research methodologies, frequently explored geographical regions, and industries of focus while providing a roadmap for future research endeavors. Finally, it acknowledges the lasting impact of femvertising as a response to consumer demands during the fourth wave of feminism and its role in promoting diversity and inclusion in advertising, encompassing disabilities, ethnicity, age, and gender identity. The main research trends uncovered in this study encompass the effects of female stereotypes, the sexualization of women in advertising, attitudes related to the brand, and the exploration of female empowerment. Qualitative methodologies emerged as the dominant approach in this research landscape, with a particular focus on countries boasting high gender equality. Furthermore, industries that predominantly target women in their advertising campaigns, such as fashion, luxury apparel, beauty, and personal care, occupy a central position in the existing body of literature. These findings encourage scholars to embark on future research aligned with the proposed research trends, particularly in regions characterized by lower gender equality and within gender‐neutral or male‐dominated industries.

Two decades of research on the role of diet in Alzheimer’s disease (2003–2023): a bibliometric and visual analysis based on CiteSpace

BackgroundIn recent years, the impact of diet on Alzheimer's disease (AD) as a modifiable lifestyle has attracted widespread attention. We aimed to elucidate the current research status, frontiers, and research trends regarding the role of diet in AD over the past two decades through CiteSpace.MethodsStudies related to AD and diet that were published from January 1, 2003, to June 30, 2023, were retrieved via the Web of Science Core Collection. We imported the study data into CiteSpace for visual analysis of countries, institutions, co-authors, and co-occurring keywords.ResultsA total of 922 relevant studies were included in our analysis, which found Nikolaos Scarmeas was the most prolific author (13 studies, 1.41%). The results also indicated that USA and Columbia University were the country and institution with the highest number of publications, with 209 (22.67%) and 23 (2.49%), respectively. The keywords that had a burst in the past four years were neuroinflammation, AD, tau, association, and beta.ConclusionTalent exchange and regional cooperation are recommended in this study field. The results indicate that the effectiveness of various dietary patterns and mechanisms of dietary interventions using biomarkers and supplementation with refined nutrients will be the main research trends in the future.

The role of technology in entrepreneurship: a comprehensive systematic and bibliometric analysis

PurposeThrough bibliometric analysis, the study intends to reveal the evolution of the trends in the Scopus database, the scope of research and the connection between technology and entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a comprehensive science mapping approach, integrating network visualisation to map research groups, bibliometric analysis to measure publication trends and thematic analysis to identify overarching themes. This study uses a thorough technique to examine the complex interaction between technology and entrepreneurship from 2000 to 2023. The collection includes information from various sources, creating a corpus of 2,207 documents. These sources include 698 scholarly journals, books and other publications.FindingsAccording to the report, the interest in technology and entrepreneurship is expanding. The three nations conducting the most study on this subject is the USA, the UK and Italy. Some of the top writers in this area include James A. Cunningham, Alison N. Link and David B. Audretsch.Research limitations/implicationsThe study found possibilities and problems associated with the interaction between technology and entrepreneurship. Additionally, the study found several research holes in this area. The study also noted some research gaps in this field, including those related to the sustainability of society and the environment, the effects of entrepreneurship on inequality and the difficulties faced by entrepreneurs in underdeveloped nations.Practical implicationsThis study thoroughly overviews the business and technology sectors. It outlines some of the difficulties that must be overcome whilst identifying the main research trends in this field. Researchers, decision-makers and businesspeople interested in using technology for entrepreneurial endeavours can all benefit from the study’s findings.Social implicationsThis study’s dataset’s scope, which might not include all pertinent publications, is one of its limitations. Nevertheless, the results add to a thorough picture of the state of the profession and recent developments. This study’s insights are valuable for researchers, policymakers and entrepreneurs interested in leveraging technology for entrepreneurial pursuits.Originality/valueThe research points to a number of directions that need more inquiry, such as in-depth studies into the social and environmental implications of technology-driven entrepreneurship and methods to combat inequality.

Farklı Ülkelerde Fen Eğitimi: Türkiye’de ve Farklı Bölgelerde Gözlenen Eğilimler Arasındaki Farklılıklar

Farklı Ülkelerde Fen Eğitimi: Türkiye’de ve Farklı Bölgelerde Gözlenen Eğilimler Arasındaki Farklılıklar

СОВРЕМЕННЫЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯ МАТЕРИНСТВА: О ЧЕМ (НЕ)ГОВОРЯТ ТРЕНДЫ?

The article deals with the analysis of the latest English-language publications on maternity research (search depth – three years, scientific base – Researchgate.net). As a result, the main research trends were formulated: the influence of motherhood on the career and level of income, the influence of motherhood on the psychosocial well-being of women, motherhood and digital technologies, single motherhood, motherhood and age characteristics, motherhood and assisted reproductive technologies. The author comes to the conclusion that studies of motherhood have an evolutionary orientation from biological reductionism to understanding the socio-psychological factors of its formation and functioning and are addressed to the mother’s personality. Scientists quickly respond to social changes and phenomena that make adjustments to usual practices (pandemic, digitalization, new technologies, adopted laws, etc.). However, ideology and the desire to meet social and political demands (which can be explained by ignoring some issues and repeating analysis of others, as well as the declared principles of scientific journals) have an important influence on research approaches and the tone of discourse.

Advances in the study of soil erosion by water in Mexico published in Spanish

AbstractResearch on soil erosion by water (SEW) includes studies on different spatial and temporal scales. Nevertheless, in Mexico (as in many countries of the Latin American and the Caribbean Region), a lack of studies on SEW is constantly reported in high‐impact journals. We argue that this lack is mainly due to the language in which the majority of the scientific research about SEW in Mexico is published, which is Spanish. Therefore, the objective is to identify the main trends in SEW research in Mexico, through a review of peer‐reviewed studies published in Spanish. The review is centred on two sources of studies published in Spanish that are relevant to Mexican soil sciences communities: Scielo (Scientific Electronic Library Online) and Redalyc (Diamond Open Access scientific journal network non‐commercial global infrastructure owned by academia). As a result, we identified 37 relevant peer‐reviewed articles about SEW, and the principal article aim of these works is modelling and measuring SEW (45.9 and 29.7% of the total articles compiled, respectively). We observed that research on SEW in Mexico follows the same trends as global reports. For example, the most frequently implemented models are those in the Universal Soil Loss Equation and its variants. We observed no data‐sharing culture in most of the revised articles. Our results suggest that large‐scale studies on SEW are needed in Mexico to better understand its role in large‐scale earth system models. Therefore, we conclude that despite the scarce international visibility of Spanish‐written SEW research, multiple valuable studies have indeed been carried out and they provide relevant information for the development of baseline references towards enabling nationwide soil erosion monitoring programmes in Mexico.

Primary Healthcare Marketing: A Bibliometric Study and Research Agenda.

The evolution of our lives has forced changes to the healthcare system and consequently established healthcare marketing as an essential element of health services, including primary health care (PHC). This article aims to analyze the size, structure, and dynamics of research on primary healthcare marketing to identify the main topics and research trends in this area. The authors conducted a bibliographic analysis based on the methods of performance analysis and scientific mapping. The bibliographical analysis covered 1981 publications selected from the Scopus database and was carried out with the use of the MS Excel and VOSviewer applications. The results were supplemented with an in-depth analysis of 34 publications selected based on bibliographic coupling analysis to determine key research trends and results, which increased the understanding of the research area. The conducted research proves that the issue of marketing in primary health care is rarely addressed by researchers, which translates into very limited research results and little impact on the decision-making process in this area. This research field requires much greater commitment, especially in the areas indicated in the future research agenda recommendations.

Critical Literature Review of Contemporary Research on Attitudes Towards World Englishes

Locally and globally, the position of English is uncontested, making it the most sought-after languages to be learnt today. While there is little disagreement about the need to learn English, language teaching and learning efforts are often beset by questions of which variety of English is most suitable for the classroom. This is complicated by attitudes towards varieties of English. This paper is a literature review to inform a study of attitudes towards World Englishes among Sri Lankan English teachers. It presents a critical review of existing literature that combines elements of a systematic review. Based on 50 recent studies, the paper first presents key findings in an overview of the main trends in contemporary research on attitudes towards World Englishes (AWE). It next presents a selection of findings based on a critical analysis of these studies. These findings include the proliferation of AWE studies in countries that formerly considered English a foreign language, a preference for survey methods and AWE studies in pedagogical contexts, recurring findings across studies from different parts of the world, and the researchers' engagement with the concept of attitudes. The critical analysis of the studies uncovered conceptual and methodological shortcomings that also reflect the limitations previously identified in WEs research and language attitudes research. This paper concludes with the recommendation to consider moving beyond positivist, quantitative approaches such as surveys in the study of AWEs that consider language attitudes to be fixed and measurable in order to produce generalisations. Instead, this paper advocates more inductive, qualitative approaches that focus on the individual and the subjective and consider language attitudes as unfixed, volatile, and evolving in context, which might provide new insights into the field.

BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM AND ITS THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS

Bibliometric studies allow us to observe and interpret the behavior and progress of scientific production on a topic. Thus, present research performs a bibliometric analysis of the research developed on community tourism. For this purpose, articles published in journals indexed in Scopus in the period 1983 to 2022 are considered; the search is restricted to (TITLE ("community tourism") OR TITLE ("turismo comunitario”)), which makes 124 items visible. The analysis is carried out using the Bibliometrix and VOSviewer software, which formally and thematically characterizes scientific production through bibliometrics. The indicators used are: annual scientific production and by country, productivity by type of institution, most cited articles, magazines with the most publications on community tourism, analysis of keywords and relationship with the topics, and finally, the main currents or trends of research. The results reflect that there is a trend in research in the field of community tourism: tourism sustainability, economic development, tourism linked to local development, indigenous communities, topics that will gain strength such as the use of platforms and social capital.

Systematic Review of Sustainable Development Goals in Higher Education Institutions: First Five Years of Agenda 2030

This paper presents a systematic review of the scientific evidence regarding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in universities at the international level in the first 5-year period since the 2030 Agenda (2015–2020). The search comprises a selection of 63 articles published in Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Academic. This study analyses the main research trends, objectives, methodologies, and research tools. The paper concludes with the identification of barriers and limitations.

German language studies: main research trends in Russia and Germany

The article is devoted to a review of current trends in modern research in Russian and foreign German studies. The purpose of the article is to describe existing trends in Russian and German studies and current research based on the material of the German language. In the article, German studies is understood in its narrow definition, as a subject area whose sphere of interests exclusively includes research in German language and literature. The material for the analysis was scientific articles in leading Russian and German publications, associations of government agencies, as well as publications of Russian and German research organizations. The rationale for this is the significant advances in scientific research of Russian (Soviet) and German Germanists in the twentieth century. During the study, methods of analysis, synthesis and observation were used. The development trends of Russian and German German studies are determined by the cultural, historical, socio-political, and informational features of the development of modern society. Text, corpus and translation are considered as the main sources of promising trends in German studies for the description and interpretation of the facts of the modern German language in diachrony and synchrony. Text models and text types are substantiated from the perspective of modern discursive practices of the German language community (migration discourse, multimodal discourse, political and populist discourse, valeological discourse, etc.). The results of corpus research are considered as an empirical basis for research in German studies and for the strategy of inductive generalization. Research in the field of translation studies is aimed at fixing and systematizing established translation techniques based on innovative digital technologies.