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Biomedical Engineering Education

Biomedical Engineering Education - Poster Session E

Poster Q18 - Visualizing a Bibliometric Map of Publications in a Predoctoral Training Program

Saturday, October 26, 2024
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EST
Location: Exhibit Hall E, F & G

Introduction:  Collaborative research is a hallmark of biomedical engineering (BME), but BME education and training programs typically do not systematically investigate research products to understand how their researchers work together. The goal of this study was to use a bibliometric map of published literature to reveal patterns of co-authorship within a predoctoral training program.

Materials and

Methods:  Our data sample consisted of papers published in peer-reviewed journals that included one or more co-authors who were trainees appointed to a predoctoral training grant (T32 EB007507) in the past 10 years. VOSviewer, a software tool developed by van Eck and Waltman of Leiden University, was used to create and visualize a bibliometric map of the trainee publication data.

Results, Conclusions, and Discussions: The bibliometric map illustrated patterns of joint publication among trainees and faculty in the program. Clusters of collaborating trainees and faculty were apparent and cross-connections between co-authorship clusters demonstrated bridges between diverse research areas. The bibliometric map also helped visualize areas for future growth, such as faculty who have fewer joint publications with other training faculty. VOSviewer is not difficult to use, but resolving inconsistencies in the formatting of authors’ names can be tedious (e.g., Dunn, Andrew vs. Dunn, Andrew K. vs. Dunn, A. K.). A limitation of this analysis is that it was performed using publications of trainees appointed to a specific training grant, so collaborations between the faculty that involve students supported by other mechanisms aren’t represented in the bibliometric map.

Acknowledgements (Optional):  This study was supported in part by NIH grant T32 EB007507. The authors thank Hannah Chapman Tripp for advice on bibliometric software.