A Framework to Explore the Knowledge Structure of Multidisciplinary Research Fields

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel framework for analyzing the knowledge structure of multidisciplinary research fields using longitudinal bibliographic data, demonstrated through a case study on obesity research over 20 years.

Contribution

It presents a new approach for retrieving online bibliographic data and a framework for exploring and visualizing knowledge structures in multidisciplinary research.

Findings

Effective visualization of 20 years of obesity research data

Insights into the evolution of multidisciplinary knowledge structures

A novel method for data retrieval and analysis in research fields

Abstract

Understanding emerging areas of a multidisciplinary research field is crucial for researchers,policymakers and other stakeholders. For them a knowledge structure based on longitudinal bibliographic data can be an effective instrument. But with the vast amount of available online information it is often hard to understand the knowledge structure for data. In this paper, we present a novel approach for retrieving online bibliographic data and propose a framework for exploring knowledge structure. We also present several longitudinal analyses to interpret and visualize the last 20 years of published obesity research data.