JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

In recent decades, advances in information technology has given a new momentum to telemedicine research. These advances in telemedicine range from individual to population levels by allowing exchange of patient information for diagnosis and management of health problems, primary care prevention and education of physicians via distance learning.

Objective:

This scientometric investigation aims to examine collaborative research networks, dominant research themes and disciplines and seminal research studies that have contributed most to the field of telemedicine. This information is vital for scientists, institutes and policy stakeholders to evaluate research areas where more infrastructural or scholarly contributions are required.

Methods:

For the purpose of analyses, we utilized CiteSpace (v4.0 R5, Drexel University, Pennsylvania, USA), which is a JAVA-based software that allows scientometric analysis especially visualization of collaborative networks and research themes in a specific field.

Results:

We found that scholarly activity has experienced a significant increase in the last decade. Most important works were conducted in context of institutions located in high income countries. A discipline specific shift from radiology to telestroke, teledermatology, telepsychiatry and primary care was observed. Most important innovations yielding a collaborative influence were reported in following medical disciplines in descending order: Public Environmental & Occupational Health, Psychiatry, Pediatrics, Health Policy & Services, Nursing, Rehabilitation, Radiology, Pharmacology, Surgery, Respiratory medicine, Neurosciences, obstetrics and geriatrics.

Conclusions:

Despite a continuous rise in scholarly activity in telemedicine, we noticed several gaps in literature. For instance, all the primary and secondary research central to telemedicine were conducted in context of high-income countries, including the evidence synthesis approaches synthesizing evidence pertaining to implementation aspects of telemedicine.