Disciplinary trends in the use of the Delphi method: A bibliometric analysis

Abstract

The Delphi method is an iterative, anonymous, group-based process for eliciting and aggregating opinion on a topic to explore the existence of consensus among experts. The year 2023 marks the 60th anniversary of the first peer-reviewed journal article on the Delphi method. Originally developed for operations research, this method is now applied extensively by researchers representing diverse scientific fields. We used a bibliometric analysis to describe general trends in the expansion of its use across disciplines over time. We conducted a systematic literature search for all English-language, peer-reviewed journal articles on the Delphi method through its first 60 years. We found 19,831 articles: 96.8% (n = 19,204) on the actual use of the Delphi method in an empirical study and 3.2% (n = 627) describing, examining, or providing some guidance on how to use the Delphi method. Almost half (49.9%) of all articles were published in the 2010s and an additional third (32.5%) in the first few years of the 2020s. Nearly two-thirds (65%, n = 12,883) of all published articles have appeared in medical journals, compared to 15% in science and technology (n = 3,053) or social science (n = 3,016) journals. We conclude that the expanded use of the Delphi method has been driven largely by the medical field, though social scientists and technologists continue to be at the forefront of methodological work on the Delphi method. Therefore, we call for greater transdisciplinary collaboration on methodological guidance and standards for the Delphi method.

Bounded Confidence Revisited: What We Overlooked, Underestimated, and Got Wrong

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Use and acceptance of traditional, complementary and integrative medicine in Germany—an online representative cross-sectional study

“…Other representative surveys from other countries use a variety of other abbreviations for TCIM, e.g., traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine (TC&AM) or complementary and integrative health (CIH) ( 28–30 ). Standardization would be desirable here, e.g., as part of a Delphi method ( 31 ).…”

Rural Depopulation in Spain: A Delphi Analysis on the Need for the Reorientation of Public Policies

“…This research presents data collected through a survey conducted with experts in the field of rural development and depopulation issues. The Delphi methodology, initially applied in the study of national security by Dalkey and Helmer (1963) [21], has been employed, with numerous applications in various scientific fields for prediction and forecasting over the past 60 years, as extensively reviewed by Khodyakov et al (2023) [22]. This review builds upon the research of Gupta and Clarke (1996) [23] conducted two decades earlier, and the Delphi method has increasingly found applications in studying the expected effects of agricultural and rural development policies in Spain: [24] Diez (1979); [25] The Delphi technique aims to obtain the reliable opinions of a group of experts through an interactive process with a small panel of experts.…”