Economic Evaluation: Bibliometric Analysis of Recent Literature
2016
This bibliometric analysis focuses on recently published full economic evaluations of health interventions and reflects critically on the implications of the findings. The authors created a database drawing on 14 health, economic, and/or general literature databases for articles published between 1 January 2012 and 3 May 2014 and identified 2844 economic evaluations. They examined the distribution of publications between countries, regions, and health areas studied and compared the relative volume of research with disease burden. They analyzed the authors' country and institutional affiliations, journals and journal type, language, and type of economic evaluation conducted.
More than 1200 economic evaluations were published annually, of which 4% addressed low-income countries, 4% lower-middle-income countries, 14% upper-middle-income countries, and 83% high-income countries. Across country income levels, 53, 54, 86, and 100% of articles, respectively, included an author based in a country within the income level studied. Biomedical journals published 74% of economic evaluations. The volume of research across health areas correlated more closely with disease burden in high-income than in low-income and middle-income countries.
The authors discuss the importance of establishing an empirical foundation for further study on methods, research prioritization, and capacity development in health economic evaluation.
Economic Evaluation: Bibliometric Analysis of Recent Literature
Source:
Pitt C, Goodman C, Hanson K. Economic Evaluation in Global Perspective: A Bibliometric Analysis of the Recent Literature. Health Economics 2016; 25: 9-28. https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.3305