Palliative care related hotspots and visualized analysis based on Web of Science

Objective To analyze SCI papers related to palliative care and identify research hotspots to offer theoretical guidance and basis for further research and management of palliative care. Methods SCI papers related to palliative care published on Web of Science from 1994 to 2017 were taken as the data source. Classified statistics, bibliometrics and CiteSpace II visualization software were used for relevant description and graphing. Results The number and the cites of published SCI papers on palliative care began to rise substantially since 1994; the US ranked first in terms of the number of published papers, which was followed by China. Totally 24 high frequency keywords and 20 burst terms (research fronts) were found. The results showed that the subject of palliative care research turned from terminal stage patients to specific patients with chronic diseases and medical and nursing workers; psychological problems such as depression and sorrow in family care givers should draw more attention, and problem of races became a tendency as well. Conclusions Palliative care related research has drawn attention from scholars at home and abroad. China's research in palliative care has a late start and remains in its infancy. Our scholars can use the experience of other countries as well as the advance care planning model of Taiwan Region of China for reference so as to find a palliative care model which is suitable for our conditions. Key words: Nursing; Palliative care; Research hotspots; Visualized analysis