Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Abstract
Due to rapid smartphone health application growth and usage, we analyzed literature published in the field of spHealth Apps. SciVerse Scopus was used as the database of choice for this study. Research productivity, collaborations, citation analysis, authors and institutions were presented using well established bibliometric indicators.
During the study period (2000-20), 4546 documents were published in total. The average count of documents per year was 227. English was the language predominantly used in the retrieved documents (97%). The h- index of the retrieved documents was 137. Author submission of keywords used in documents pertaining to sp- Health Apps included human, randomized controlled trials, telemedicine, health care delivery, health promotion, physical activity among others. During the study period, Relative Growth Rate (RGR) and Doubling Time (DT) of retrieved literature fluctuated. An analysis of authorship and collaboration based on published data revealed 4244 multi-authored documents. The mean Collaboration Index (CI) was 5.8 authors per article. The country with the highest productivity was the United States of America with Harvard Medical School as the most prolific academic institution. Jmir Mhealth And Uhealth was the most productive journal in the field of spHealth Apps. Top cited articles in the field of spHealth Apps included the use of smartphone applications in phone sensing, point-of-care testing, health behavior promotion & modeling, mental health, contact tracing etc.
spHealth Apps is a growing field with increasing impact in people's day-to-day lifestyles. Our bibliometric indicators of research output in spHealth Apps mirror this increasing impact.