Co-word analysis based case management research hotspots in China from 2009 to 2018

Objective To make bibliometrics analysis on case management literature in China so as to understand the research hotspots of case management and provide a basis for development of case management. Methods Journal articles related to case management were retrieved based on the theme "Case Management" in Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) from 1st January 2009 to 31st December 2018 and the bibliography was collected. Excel and self-design computer program were used to frequency statistics and to construct co-word analysis and co-occurrence matrix of high-frequency keywords. SPSS 22.0 was used to hierarchical cluster analysis. Results A total of 1 102 articles were included and 53 high-frequency keywords were extracted. From 2009 to 2018, case management applied research showed growth trend in China. A total of 988 authors published 1 102 articles in 531 journals. Hierarchical cluster analysis showed that research hotspots of case management in China focused on 8 aspects including community-based rehabilitation, Aids, chronic heart failure, diabetes, peritoneal dialysis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, human resources and social work. Conclusions Nearly 10 years, case management is widely used in nursing field and social work, but research depth and width is insufficient. Achievable case management scheme should be built and informative case management system should be constructed to improve prognosis and quality of life of patients. There is still large room for development in the future. Key words: Bibliometrics; Case management; Co-word analysis; Co-occurrence matrix; Correlation matrix; Cluster analysis