Scientific articles in "Internet of Things": A bibliometric and co-word analysis in MEDLINE

Objective (s): The Internet of Things has been of interest to researchers as a global infrastructure for the information society. The importance of it by governments, organizations, and scientific communities has been characterized by increasing the production of scientific articles in this area in recent years. The purpose of the present study was to carry out a bibliometric and co-word analysis of Internet of Things on scientific articles production in MEDLINE during the period of 1999-2017. The current was carried out using bibliometric method and co-word analysis, which is similar to content analysis in scientometric. The source of data collection was the MEDLINE. To do this, the search formula in the advanced search box was used. Retrieved results were limited to the period from 1999 to 2017. Data analysis was performed using VOSviewer and Excel software. Then the co-word networks were plotted in the form of tables and charts. The production of scientific articles in the "Internet of Things" area has grown exponentially over the period considered. Sensors Journal has published the most articles in this field. China has been the pioneer in producing scientific papers in this field. . Tiago M. Fernández-Caramés and Paula Fraga Lamas have been the most prolific authors in the field. On the basis of the co-word matrix in the subject and title of the articles, the research areas active in this field were: Human, internet, wireless technology, women, men, algorithms, computer communication network, telemedicine, adults, middle aged, remote sensing technology, computer security, patient, smart home, objects internet programs, non-voluntary outpatient treatment, detection, wearable device, protocol, treatment, disease, internet device objects. The results of this study indicate that China is top of the list in terms of the number of authors and the contributions of its authors in international journals. Chinese journal named “Zhongguo Yi Liao Qi Xie Za Zhi” is one of the top 10 journals in this field. The most attention is paid to the establishment of the Internet of things application.