Bibliometric Analysis of Productivity And Keyword Trends of Articles on Physiotherapy and Aging (1990-2014).

Background and Objective. The increase in population longevity has led the subject of aging to take an important role in research and innovation policies. Considerable efforts have been made worldwide to promote research on physiotherapy and aging. Therefore, applying bibliometric measures can be useful to identify emerging and innovative scientific indicators. This study identifies productivity and topic trends on physiotherapy in aging and the main publishing authors, institutions and countries. Materials and Methods. A bibliometric analysis was applied on original articles published on the Science Citation Index Expanded of Web of Science Core Collection (1990-2014). Bibliometric indicators were obtained using specific bibliometric software. Pearsons' correlation coefficient (r) was applied for correlations, statistical significance was considered for p-values <0,01. Results. 2,237 original articles were included. Topic trends show initial focus on illness and evolving towards the study of prevention. Authors and institutions increase productivity and citation. The most productive country is United States and there is a significant correlation between productivity and Gross Domestic Product (p<0.01). There is no statistical significance between productivity and countries aged population. Conclusions. Productivity has increased, with a greater scientific interest towards prevention. Published research is mainly related to wealth and developed countries.