Bibliometric analysis of global migration health research in peer-reviewed literature (2000–2016)

Abstract

BackgroundThe health of migrants has become an important issue in global health and foreign policy. Assessing the current status of research activity and identifying gaps in global migration health (GMH) is an important step in mapping the evidence-base and on advocating health needs of migrants and mobile populations. The aim of this study was to analyze globally published peer-reviewed literature in GMH.MethodsA bibliometric analysis methodology was used. The Scopus database was used to retrieve documents in peer-reviewed journals in GMH for the study period from 2000 to 2016. A group of experts in GMH developed the needed keywords and validated the final search strategy.ResultsThe number of retrieved documents was 21,457. Approximately one third (6878; 32.1%) of the retrieved documents were published in the last three years of the study period. In total, 5451 (25.4%) documents were about refugees and asylum seekers, while 1328 (6.2%) were about migrant workers, 440 (2.1%) were about international students, 679 (3.2%) were about victims of human trafficking/smuggling, 26 (0.1%) were about patients’ mobility across international borders, and the remaining documents were about unspecified categories of migrants. The majority of the retrieved documents (10,086; 47.0%) were in psychosocial and mental health domain, while 2945 (13.7%) documents were in infectious diseases, 6819 (31.8%) documents were in health policy and systems, 2759 (12.8%) documents were in maternal and reproductive health, and 1918 (8.9%) were in non-communicable diseases. The contribution of authors and institutions in Asian countries, Latin America, Africa, Middle East, and Eastern European countries was low. Literature in GMH represents the perspectives of high-income migrant destination countries.ConclusionOur heat map of research output shows that despite the ever-growing prominence of human mobility across the globe, and Sustainable Development Goals of leaving no one behind, research output on migrants’ health is not consistent with the global migration pattern. A stronger evidence base is needed to enable authorities to make evidence-informed decisions on migration health policy and practice. Research collaboration and networks should be encouraged to prioritize research in GMH.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-018-5689-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Bibliometric analysis of peer-reviewed literature on climate change and human health with an emphasis on infectious diseases

“…A significant and strong correlation is indicative of a high validity of the search query and the absence of missing results. This approach was previously used in several bibliometric studies [46].…”

“…Based on the argument mentioned above and based on calls for papers made by certain specialized and prestigious journals in the field of public health and infectious diseases, the current study was undertaken to analyze the research aspects and research activity of climate change and human health with an emphasis on infectious diseases. The method used to display the research pattern and research activity on a certain topic is the bibliometric analysis which has been commonly used recently in various health topics [46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53]. Climate change has diverse effects that include aquatic organisms, forests, animals, and humans.…”

Global scientific trends on aflatoxin research during 1998–2017: a bibliometric and visualized study

“…The use of Scopus as a bibliometric tool was based on the idea that it has a better coverage of journals than other databases such as Web of Science [29,30]. Additionally, Scopus has been used and validated in previously published bibliometric analyses [8,9,18,[31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. Data were collected in March 2019.…”

7 Migration and health: Current issues, governance and knowledge gaps

“…52 Abubakar et al, 2018Griswold et al, 2018;IOM, 2017c;Pottie et al, 2017;Wickramage et al, 2018b. 53 Ho et al, 2019Sweileh et al, 2018. 54 Sweileh et al, 2018 Global distribution of international migration and health research in peer-reviewed publications By international migrant category:…”

“…Source: Sweileh et al, 2018. Note: A total of 21,547 documents were retrieved and reviewed. The variables are not necessarily exclusive, so percentages may not total 100 per cent.…”