Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Apr 30, 2024
Date Accepted: Aug 31, 2024
Decoding the Digital Pulse: A Network Analysis of 25 Years in Digital Health Research through JMIR
ABSTRACT
Background:
As the digital health landscape continues to evolve, analyzing the progress and direction of the field can yield valuable insights. The Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) has been at the forefront of disseminating digital health research since 1999. A comprehensive network analysis of JMIR publications can help illuminate the evolution and trends in digital medicine over the past 25 years.
Objective:
This study aims to conduct a detailed network analysis of JMIR's publications to uncover the growth patterns, dominant themes, and potential future trajectories in digital health research.
Methods:
We retrieved 8,068 JMIR articles from PubMed using the Biopython library. Keyword metrics were assessed using precision, recall, and F1 scores to evaluate the effectiveness of keyword identification from PubMed MeSH terms, PubMed keywords, and Claude 3 Opus keywords. Future trends for 2024-2026 were predicted using the Claude 3 Opus model. Network visualization techniques were used to represent and analyze the complex relationships between collaborating countries, article types and keyword co-occurrence.
Results:
JMIR's publication volume showed consistent growth, with a peak in 2020. The United States dominated country contributions, with China showing a notable increase in recent years. Keyword analysis from 1999-2023 showed significant thematic shifts, from an early internet and eHealth focus to the dominance of COVID-19 and advanced technologies such as machine learning. Predictions for 2024-2026 suggest an increased focus on artificial intelligence, digital health, and mental health.
Conclusions:
Network analysis of JMIR publications provides a macroscopic view of evolution of the digital health field. The journal's trajectory reflects broader technological advances and shifting research priorities, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The predicted trends underscore the growing importance of computational technology in future healthcare research and practice. The findings from JMIR provide a glimpse into the future of digital medicine, suggesting a robust integration of artificial intelligence and continued emphasis on mental health in the post-pandemic era.
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.