Korean J Med Educ.  2015 Dec;27(4):247-254. 10.3946/kjme.2015.27.4.247.

Trends of research articles in the Korean Journal of Medical Education by social network analysis

• Yoo HH
• Shin S

• KMID: 2363929
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3946/kjme.2015.27.4.247

Abstract

PURPOSE
This aim of this study is to examine trends in medical education research in the Korean Journal of Medical Education (KJME) and suggest improvements for medical education research.
METHODS
The main variables were keywords from research papers that were published in KJME. Abstracts of papers (n=499) that were published from 1991 through 2015 were analyzed by social network analysis (NetMiner 4.0) a common research method for trends in academic subjects.
RESULTS
The most central keywords were "medical education," "clinical competence," "medical student," and "curriculum." After introduction into graduate medical school, newly appearing keywords were "professional behavior," "medical humanities," "communication," and "physician-patient relation." Based on these results, we generated a schematic of the network, in which the five groups before introduction to graduate medical school expanded to nine groups after introduction.
CONCLUSION
Medical education research has been improving qualitatively and quantitatively, and research subjects have been expanded, subdivided, and specific. While KJME has encompassed medical education studies comprehensively, studies on medical students have risen in number. Thus, the studies that are published in KJME were consistent with the direction of journal and a new study on the changes in medical education is being conducted.

Keyword

Social network analysis; Keywords; Korean Journal of Medical Education; Research trends

MeSH Terms

Biomedical Research/*trends
Data Mining
*Education, Medical
Humans
Periodicals as Topic/*trends