Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The Evolution of Spirituality, Religion and Health Publications: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Religion and Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This research aims to present a bibliometric analysis of the published documents on spirituality, religion and health. Despite the increasing number of publications spirituality, religion and health research in recent years, there is still little information about the effects of these publications in the literature. “Religion,” “spirituality,” “spiritual,” “health” and “medicine” keywords were used to search the Web of Science (WoS) database. Bibliometric analysis was conducted on the articles published between 1975 and 2017. The analysis was presented with network and density maps. The analysis also included the regression analysis to predict a number of publications in 2018. A total number of 1674 publications were found: 818 of these publications were articles. Of the 818 articles, 210 were religion, 198 were Public Environmental Occupational Health, 139 were Psychology, and 77 were performed in the field of Psychiatry. The most productive journal with 107 articles and 1129 citations was the Journal of Religion and Health. The USA (495; 60.5%) was the most productive country on spirituality, religion and health publications. The author who had the highest number of publications and citations was Koenig HG (33 publications; 4.03% and 1617 citations), the document who had the highest number of citations was Ellison CG and Levin JS (633 citations), and the author who had the highest number of citations in the references was Koenig HG, 2001, (126 citations). Duke Univ was the top institution in the number of publication (50 Article). This study will lead the researchers especially in terms of the important journals, active countries, authors, top-cited articles and current topics in spirituality, religion and health research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Clarke, A., Gatineau, M., Grimaud, O., et al. (2007). A bibliometric overview of public health research in Europe. European Journal of Public Health, 17, 43–49.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Damiano, R. F., Costa, L. A., Viana, M. T. S. A., Moreira-Almeida, A., Lucchetti,. Alessandra L. G., & Lucchetti, G. (2016). Brazilian scientific articles on “Spirituality, Religion and Health”. Archives of Clinical Psychiatry (São Paulo), 43(1), 11–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellison, C. G., & Levin, J. S. (1998). The religion-health connection: Evidence, theory, and future directions. Health Education & Behavior, 25, 700–720.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Garfield, E. (1987). 100 Citation classics from the Journal of the American Medical Association. JAMA, 257, 52–59.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, P. C., & Pargament, K. I. (2003). Advances in the conceptualization and measurement of religion and spirituality: Implications for physical and mental health research. American Psychologist, 58(1), 64–74.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Koenig, H. G., McCullough, M. E., & Larson, D. B. (2001). Handbook of religion and health. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lucchetti, G., & Lucchetti, A. L. (2014). Spirituality, religion, and health: over the last 15 years of field research (1999–2013). The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 48(3), 199–215.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Muslu, Ü. (2018). The evolution of breast reduction publications: A bibliometric analysis. Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 42(3), 679–691.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ozsoy, Z., & Demir, E. (2017). The evolution of bariatric surgery publications and global productivity: A bibliometric analysis. Obesity Surgery, 28(4), 1117–1129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ozsoy, Z., & Demir, E. (2018). Which bariatric procedure is the most popular in the world? A Bibliometric Comparison, OBES SURG, 28(8), 2339–2352.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pargament, K. I. (1997). The psychology of religion and coping: Theory, research, practice. New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell, L. H., Shahabi, L., & Thoresen, C. E. (2003). Religion and spirituality: Linkages to physical health. American Psychologist, 58(1), 36–52.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Şenel, E., & Demir, E. (2018). Bibliometric and scientometric analysis of the articles published in the Journal of Religion and Health Between 1975 and 2016. Journal of Religion and Health, 57(4), 1473–1482.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Senel, E., Demir, E., & Alkan, R. M. (2016). Bibliometric analysis on global Behcet disease publications during 1980–2014: Is there a Silk Road in the literature? Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, 31, 518–522.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sloan, R. P., Bagiella, E., & Powell, T. (1999). Religion, spirituality, and medicine. Lancet, 353, 664–667.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Underwood, L. G., & Teresi, J. A. (2002). The Daily Spiritual Experience Scale: Development, theoretical description, reliability, exploratory factor analysis, and preliminary construct validity using health-related data. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 24(1), 22–33.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van Eck, N. J., & Waltman, L. (2010). Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics, 84(2), 523–538.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van Raan, A. F. J. (2003). The use of bibliometric analysis in research performance assessment and monitoring of interdisciplinary scientific developments. Technikfolgenabschätzung, Theorie und Praxis, 1, 20–29.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Emre Demir.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The author declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Demir, E. The Evolution of Spirituality, Religion and Health Publications: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. J Relig Health 58, 1–13 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-00739-w

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-018-00739-w

Keywords

Navigation