Exploring Healthcare Research Patterns in Developed and Developing Countries: ATopic Modeling Perspectives

Abstract

Abstract Healthcare research has become an integral part of shaping medical improvements due to its importance in discovering health challenges, examining public health concerns, and providing evidence-based practices. Regarding the differences that exist among nations concerning their culture, infrastructure, and politics, the study of healthcare research specific to each country provides valuable lessons for policymaking and reforms based on the needs of that nation. Moreover, if there are common concerns between different countries, it can facilitate scientific cooperation. Accordingly, the purpose of this current study is to provide a cross-country overview of research themes and sub-themes on healthcare in four countries: China, England, and Iran. A total of 5122 Scopus-indexed publications related to healthcare from 2010 to 2023 are analyzed using state-of-the-art topic modeling techniques: Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), and BERTopic. Comparing the topic models based on evaluation metrics, BERTopic was outperformed and selected for further analysis. The results give insights into the most prevalent themes and sub-themes on healthcare in each country. Additionally, the study shows the evolution trends of the predominant topics identified for each country, showing their rise, fall, and fluctuation patterns within the literature. The findings of this study can provide helpful insight for both academics and policymakers to develop their efforts and make better decisions in this field.