System Parameters of Drug Supply as a Pharmaceutical Field of Knowledge

Abstract

The purpose of the work was to determine the system parameters of the key area of pharmaceutical knowledge "drug supply" (DS) and to assess the possibility of using these parameters to monitor the state of knowledge about the DS. The research material was the information base of the Leningrad Region, formed on the basis of the lists of references for 8 dissertations on the problems of the Leningrad Region (2015-2022) and included 1910 bibliographic references. Methods of logical, comparative and system information analysis (SIA; variant of scientometrics) are used. As a result of the study, for the first time, the system parameters of DS as a field of scientific knowledge were determined - fundamentality, connections with other fields of knowledge, integration into systems of other sciences, development potential and fruitfulness of the knowledge system; their suitability for characterizing the state of the given area is shown. Quantitative indicators for the selected parameters are calculated, which indicate noticeable differences between the information system of the DS from the hierarchically close system "pharmaceutical informatics", as well as from information systems of a higher level - the discipline and pharmaceutical science in general. Determination of the specific indicator of the closeness (strength) of the connection showed that the field of DS is most closely connected with medicine (the value of the indicator is 133.97), pharmacy (36.09) and healthcare (12.18). In total, connections with 16 areas of scientific and practical activity were revealed. Abnormally high values of the index of heterogeneity and the cumulative influence of other sciences on the DS indicate that this area of knowledge is still being formed, without yet forming a stable structure. It has been established that the DS region has a high potential for development; after 1991, two “daughter” subsystems were formed within its framework. At the same time, the process of formation of the field of DS itself as a scientific system is very difficult, the search for an adequate model continues - economic, social, medical, universal, etc. The identified numerical values of the system parameters of the DS area can be used as basic or comparative in diagnosing the state and further development of this knowledge system (monitoring), as well as in similar studies of other areas of pharmaceutical scientific knowledge.