Analysis and review of research in the field of medical ethics in the international arena
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69760/gsrh.01012025009Keywords:
Medical Ethics, Synonym Analysis, Knowledge StructureAbstract
Background and Objective: Syntax analysis is a reliable method for discovering relationships and revealing connections between different scientific fields and visualizing the intellectual structure of a scientific discipline. This study attempts to study the intellectual structure of knowledge in medical ethics research using the technique of synonymy.
Materials and Methods: The research method of the present study is descriptive-analytical, which analyzes the content of the text with a scientometric approach. The research community includes 3296 records in the field of medical ethics in the Web of Science database for the period 1998-2018.
Findings: The findings showed that in terms of frequency, the key terms bioethics and informed consent had the highest frequency in medical ethics studies.
The findings related to hierarchical clustering led to the formation of 9 clusters in this area, with the clusters of futility in medicine, informed consent, and medical education with a clinical ethics approach being in the best strategic position. Ethical considerations: Honesty and trustworthiness in the selection of articles, reporting, and citation of the text have been observed.
Conclusion: The present study showed that the analysis of synonyms and clustering can help to understand the structure of thematic relations in a field. The results of the analysis of the strategy diagram showed that “informed consent”, “medical education with an ethical approach” and “nonsense in medicine” are the central clusters. In contrast, the four clusters “Doctor-Patient Relationship”, “Ethics in Medical Research”, “Medical Profession and Ethics” and “Easy Death” are emerging or declining clusters. Research is felt in some discussions and concepts such as abortion, simulation, sterilization and its vacuum.
References
A companion to applied ethics. Edited by Frey RG, Wellman CH. USA: Blackwell Publishers Ltd; 2008.
Abbasi M, Shamsi Goshki E, Movahedi H, Saffari S.(2014) Spiritual health in end-of-life care in the health system. J of Medical Ethics 2014; 8(30): 99-132.
Abbasian L, Abbasi M.(2009) Explaining the parameters and strategies of clinical ethics in a comprehensive health system. J of Medical Ethics 2009; 3(7): 11-33.
Aramesh K.(2008) Futility in medicine. Ethics and Medical History Research Center of Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2008; 1(4): 42-57.
Bagheri A.(2011) Medical Ethics Priorities: Results of a Country Study. Iranian J of Medical Ethics & History 2011; 4(5): 39-48.
Baji F, Azadeh F, Parsai-Mohammadi Parasaee P, Shoukat P.(2018) Mapping Intellectual Structure of Health Literacy Area Based on Co-Word Analysis in Web of Science Database during 1993-2017. Health Literacy Information 2018; 15(3): 139-145. [Persian]
Bazmi SH, Kiani M, Rezvani S.(2009) Investigating the Ethical and Legal Aspects of Organ Transplantation. Journal of Medical Ethics 2009; 3(10): 88-101.
Campbell A, Gillett G, Jones G.(2001) Medical ethics: The Geneva convetion code of medical ethics. UK: Oxford University Press; 2001. p.266.
Chen X, Chen J, Wu D, Xie Y, Li J(20016). Mapping the research trends by co-word analysis based on keywords from funded project. Procedia Computer Science 2016; 91(14): 547-555.
DE la Hoz-Correa A, Muñoz-Leiva F, Bakucz M.(2018) Past themes a future trends in medical tourism research: A co-word analysis. Journal Article of Tourism Management 2018; 65(2): 200-211.
Ekram Yawar, M., & Amani, A. (2025). Features of international trade contract. Acta Globalis Humanitatis Et Linguarum, 2(1), 276-296. https://doi.org/10.69760/aghel.02500137
Ekram Yawar, M., & Jamil Sharıfy , A. (2025). Exploring Rational Reflections in Artificial Intelligence. EuroGlobal Journal of Linguistics and Language Education, 2(2), 4-31. https://doi.org/10.69760/egjlle.2500011
Ekram Yawar, M., & Qurban Hakimi, M. (2025). Explaining the Digital Health Marketing Model in Gaining Health Welfare Support from Nonprofits. Acta Globalis Humanitatis Et Linguarum, 2(2), 4-28. https://doi.org/10.69760/aghel.02500201
Ershad Sarabi R, Eslami Nejad T, Shafian H.(2011) Content analysis of articles in medical education journals of Iran. Strides Dev Med Educ 2011; 7(2): 119-126. [Persian]
Hsu WC, Li JH.(2018) Visualising and mapping the intellectual structure of medical big data. Journal of Information Science 2018; 45(2): 239-258.
Hu Y-CP, Hu JM, Deng SL, Liu Y.(2013) A co-word analysis of Library and Information Science in China. Scientometrics 2013; 97(2): 369-382.
Jiang L, Shen J, Li Y, Deng S, Wu T, Chen B, et al.(2012) Subject, function and trend in medical ethics research: A comparative study of Chinese and non ‑ Chinese literature using bibliometrics. J of Evidence-Based Medicine 2012; 5(2): 57-65.
Khademolhosseini Z, Khademolhosseini M, Mahmoudian F.(2009) Investigating the Ethical and Behavioral Role of Physicians in Patient Adherence to Medical Procedures in the Treatment Process. Journal of Medical Ethics 2009; 3(8): 91-101.
Khalilov Farman, Y., & Jafarli Yusif, E. (2025). Abortion: In the Context of the Legislation of Foreign Countries and the Republic of Azerbaijan. Acta Globalis Humanitatis Et Linguarum, 2(1), 4-9. https://doi.org/10.69760/aghel.02500101
Larijani B, Zahedi F. A(2008) Review of Two Decades of Medical Ethics in Iran. Tehran: Second International Congress of Medical Ethics in Iran; 2008. [Persian]
Liu GY, Hu JM, Wang H.(2012) A coword analysis of digital library field in China. Scientometrics 2012; 91(1): 203-217.
Makkizadeh F, hazeri A, Hosininasab SH, Soheili F.(2016) Thematic Analysis and Scientific Mapping of Papers Related to Depression Therapy in Pubmed. Journal of Health Administration (JHA) 2016; 19(65): 51-62.
Makkizadeh F.(2019) Intellectual structure of knowledge in Nanomedicine field (2009 to 2018): A Co-Word Analysis. Nanomedicine Research Journal 2019; 4(2): 101-110.
Mekkizadeh F, Osareh F. (2011)Citation analysis and mapping of the scientific outputs of medical ethics on the WOS Web site in 1999-2008. J of Medical Ethics and History 2011; 4(5): 65-75. [Persian]
Neville J, Adler M, Jensen D.(2003) Clustering relational data using attribute and link information. InProceedings of the text mining and link analysis workshop. Amherst: 18th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence; 2003. p.9-15.
Palda VA, Bowman KW, McLean RF, Chapman MG.(2005) "Futile" care: Do we provide it? Why? A semistructured, Canada-wide survey of intensive care unit doctors and nurses. Journal of Critical Care 2005; 20(3): 207-213.
Price DJD.(1963) Little science, big science. New York: Columbia University Press; 1963. p.314-316.
Ravikumar S, Agrahari A, Singh SN. (2015)Mapping the intellectual structure of scientometrics: A co-word analysis of the journal Scientometrics (2005-2010). Scientometrics 2015; 102(1): 929-955.
Schneider N, Lueckmann SL, Kuehne F, Klindtworth K, Behmann M.(2010) Developing targets for public health initiatives to improve palliative care. BMC Public Health 2010; 10(1): 222.
Seyyed Mortaz SS, Parvin D, Zafarghandi N, Yektaee MR, Maarifi G, Dovati A, et al.(2018) Which one is decisive in an emergency? Patient autonomy or physician decision: A clinical case study. Medical Ethics and History of Medicine 2018; 11(1): 26-34.
Soheili F, Tavakolizadeh Ravari M, Hazeri A, Dost Hosseini N.(2018) mapping of sience. Tehran: Payame Noor University; 2018. [Persian]
Wei W, Ge J, Xu S, Li M, Zhao Z, Li X, Zheng J.(2019) Knowledge maps of disaster medicine in China based on co-word analysis. Journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness 2019; 13(3): 405-409.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Global Spectrum of Research and Humanities
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
