Mapping research on digital innovation in the health sector: a bibliometric approach

Abstract

In recent years, research on issues such as health digitalization has been growing rapidly. This was partly caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its growing burden on healthcare systems. In this study, we use a bibliometric approach to map the research dealing with digital innovations in the health sector, identify key research areas, and reveal knowledge gaps related to this emerging research topic. We conduct a bibliometric analysis of 151 papers from January 2010 to January 2023, indexed in the SCOPUS database using the R bibliometrix package and VOSviewer software. We find that, since 2010, there has been a huge increase in the number of publications, and the United States and the United Kingdom were the most influential knowledge centers for research collaboration on digital health. We identify four clusters of research themes: (1) IT and telemedicine, (2) digital technologies and mental health, (3) health digitalization resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, (4) and digitalization, patients’ safety or resilience. Our contributions help to map the knowledge structure on digital innovation in health and to highlight unresolved issues, such as the social implications of digital health adoption. Social issues related to digital transformation of the health sector could provide future research directions.