The Research On Scientific Collaboration In Psychiatry Based On Knowledge Network

Purpose This study aims to apply scientometrics theories to the evaluation of the research collaboration in psychiatry field by adopting the methods of combining theory with practice and qualitative with quantitative analysis. We sorted out the collaboration theory system and revealed the research fronts, hotspots and evolution process. These efforts will help the research management staff and researchers have a better understanding of the importance and necessity of research collaboration. We believe this study will offer reasonable suggestions as the basis of making polices and provide scientific evidences to prevent cure mental health issue effectively in the future. Research subject The psychiatry field was chosen for this study. Data 1. International data: We retrieved all the documents related with psychiatry from Web of Science during from 2003 to 2012 to study on scientific collaboration and during 1983 to 2012 to study on scientific collaboration of research foci.The records of the documents included the title, author names, institutions, abstract, keywords and references, etc. 2. Chinese data: We chose the 10 core psychiatry journals from Chinese Science Citation Database and all the bibliographic records published in these 10 journals from 2003 to 2012 were collected from CNKI and Wan Fang Database. Methods1. Literature analysis. 2. Scientometrics: Co-authorship and Co-cited analysis 3. Social Network Analysis: Centrality analysis, K-plex analysis and Core-Periphery analysis. 4. Statistical methods: Hierarchical clustering analysis. 5. Vsiual analysis: Visual softwares included UCINET, Netdraw, Citespace and Arc Map. Results 1. The status quo of research collaboration in psychiatry fieldFrom 2003 to 2012, the collaboration was generally increasing in international psychiatry field and the geographic distribution of the research collaboration activity was extremely uneven. The core authors was Freedman R and Seidma LJ in authors’ collaborative network. The largest sub-network included 60 nodes and 754 lines. In this sub-network, the average path length was 2.091 and the average clustering coefficient was 0.651 which indicated obvious clustering effect and characteristics of small world. In institutional collaborative network, the core institution was Havard University. We applied the method of Core-Periphery analysis to collaborative network and calculate ‘correlative value of collaborative network’ being 0.628, which detected the polarized Core-Periphery structure was very obvious. In countries’ collaborative network, the core country was USA. The network included 30 nodes and 1032 lines. In this network, the average path length was 1.076 and the average clustering coefficient was 37.572 which indicated obvious clustering effect and characteristics of small world. We applied Core-Periphery analysis and calculated correlative value of collaborative network being 0.899, which detected the polarized Core-Periphery structure was very obvious.From 2003 to 2012, the collaboration was generally increasing in Chinese psychiatry field and the geographic distribution of the research collaboration activity was also extremely uneven. The core authors were Kai-Da Jiang, Shi-Ping Xie and Yi-Ru Fang in authors’ collaborative network. The largest sub-network included 90 nodes and 1132 lines. In this subnetwork, the average path length was 2.495 and the average clustering coefficient was 3.288 which indicated obvious clustering effect and characteristics of small world. In institutional collaborative network, the core institutions were Shanghai mental health center and Central South University. We applied the method of Core-Periphery Analysis to collaborative network and calculate ‘correlative value of collaborative network’ being 0.608 which detected the polarized Core-Periphery structure was very obvious. In regions’ collaborative network, the core region was Beijing. The network included 31 nodes and 226 lines. In this network, the average path length was 1.158 and the average clustering coefficient was 5.363 which indicated obvious clustering effect and characteristics of small world. We applied Core-Periphery analysis and calculated correlative value of collaborative network being 0.904 which detected the polarized Core-Periphery structure was very obvious. Scientific collaboration was basically correlated with the output of papers positively and the regions which had frequent scientific collaboration had larger research output. 2. The evolution and scientific collaboration of research foci in psychiatry fieldIn the research of international psychiatry field, the 1960 s to 1970 s was the first stage of research on the scale of mental disorder. The 1980 s was the second stage of research on psychopathology and abnormal morphology of the brain. The 1990 s was the third stage of research on neurotransmitter about mental disorder. The early 21 st century was the forth stage of research on emotion and molecular genetics in psychiatry field. In order to further detect the research foci in psychiatry field, we constructed hierarchal clustering network of co-cited documents and gained 20 sub-networks. The research foci were reduced into 10 hotspots which were diagnostic criteria of mental disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, schizophrenia, drug treatment of mental disorder, mental disorder associated with psychoactive substance abuse, sleep disorder, mental disorder in childhood and adolescent, psychopathology and abnormal morphology of the brain and genetic psychiatry.The study on schizophrenia was in the center of scientific collaboration of research foci in internat ional psychiatry field.In the research of Chinese psychiatry field, The 1980 s to 1990 s was the first stage of research on the scale of mental disorder. The early 21 st century was the second stage of research on the etiology of mental disorder. In order to further detect the research foci in psychiatry field, we constructed hierarchal clustering network of co-cited document and gained 14 sub-networks. The research foci were reduced into 5 hotspots which were mental health service, diagnostic criteria of mental disorder, schizophrenia, mental disorder in childhood and adolescent and psychopathology and neuropathology of mental disorder.The study on diagnostic criteriaof mental disorder was in the center of scientific collaboration of research foci in Chinese psychiatry field. 3. The status quo of research collaboration in main mental diseaseFrom 2003 to 2012, research collaborations had increased at the authors, institutions and countries level in international depressive research. Through centrality analysis, The core authors were Rush AJ and Fava M, the core institution was Harvard University and the core country was USA.In international schizophrenia research, we detected the structure of network was looser and there were few relationship among authors who belonged to the different institutions and countries in authors’ external collaborative network. It indicated actual collaborative network among authors was at the level of collaboration of the same institution especially in the same country/region in recent years. In authors’ potential collaborative network, we detected the structure of network was more compact, which indicated research theme was relatively centralized and potential collaborative relationship was stronger. The authors’ relationship has transformed from collaborating to publish a paper into research direction which focused on genetic research, brain imaging, cognitive symptoms and conduction of neurotransmitters, ect. The core institution was Harvard University and the core country was USA. Conclusions 1. The tendency of research collaboration was increasing in psychiatry fieldThe international and Chinese scientific collaboration was generally increasing in psychiatry field. By measuring scientific collaboration at the authors, institutions and countries(regions) levels, we can select the academic leader and master the developmental direction of subject in order to acquire more valuable information in promoting disciplinary development. 2. The research collaboration in psychiatry field was unevenly distributedThe distribution of the research collaboration was uneven in psychiatry field. The western countries were placing at the core of international psychiatry research collaboration network, while the eastern countries were at the edge of he network. Moreover, the research collaboration activities in the eastern regions of China were more than the western regions. So, we should encourage scientific collaboration between the western countries and the eastern countries in the world and the eastern regions and the western regions of China in order to promote harmonious development of scientific research in psychiatry. 3. The main research focus was molecular genetics of mental disease, but relatively weak in China. 4. Scientific collaboration was increasing with the output of papers and the countries(regions) which had frequent scientific collaboration had larger research output. Innovation points 1. Innovation of research methods in comprehensive applicationSocial network analysis and multivariate statistics were combined with method of informat ion visualizat ion and scientometrics methods to display scientific knowledge mapping intuitively. We have transformed the database format and constructed data relationship matrix by using the soft of SATI 3.0 and Excel. Moreover, we have built the knowledge network by the softs such as Netdraw, UCINET and Citespace. We also have used the map software Arc Map to draw the geographic distribution of collaboration. 2. Reveal the regularity of scientific collaboration promoting scientific productivity in psychiatry fieldFrom the analysis of scientific collaboration in psychiatry field at the levels of countries, institutions and authors, With the total concentration of scientific collaboration and their centralities in scientific collaboration higher. the number of these collaborative research papers had an absolute advantage. It displayed fully that the regularity of scientific collaboration promoting scientific productivity in order to provide basis for scientific collaboration especially international collaboration in psychiatry field in China.Conceptions for making further investigationsAt present, we have focused on the status quo of scientific collaboration and research foci, but lack the prediction of their development. We next examine the predictions of collaboration and research fronts in psychiatry field by using trend extrapolation, System dynamic analysis method and collective evaluation method, et al. We hope the prediction can make us master the developmental law in psychiatry field and input scientific research funds to the most advanced and potential research team and offer reasonable suggestions as the basis of making policies to guide psychiatry research and provide scientific evidences in order to prevent and cure mental disorder effectively in the future.