Examining semantics in interprofessional research: A bibliometric study

ABSTRACT

While experts in the field provide clarity between terms such as interprofessional and multidisciplinary, the published literature may not be offering this preciseness. A bibliometric analysis was conducted on 1,148 studies that examined terms such as interprofessional, multidisciplinary, and teamwork in order to examine patterns of indexing, overlap in how terms and phrases are used by authors, and consistencies in the definitions of terminology. A small number of relevant indexing terms are available in PubMed but were not regularly applied to the studies in this subject area. Our findings indicate that relying on indexing terms to locate this body of literature will not reliably identify all relevant studies when searching the literature. Definitions for these terms were typically not offered by authors, references were not regularly provided when definitions were included, and clear distinctions between the different terms were not reliably provided, thus creating further difficulties. Poor indexing, lack of consistent definitions being used in the research literature, and some authors using phrases and terms as synonyms make it challenging for educators, scholars, and researchers to search, find, and use this body of literature.

KEYWORDS:

• Bibliometric analysis
• interdisciplinary communication
• interprofessional relations
• multidisciplinary
• patient care team
• physician–nurse relations
• team
• teamwork

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Notes

^1. The full search strategy for MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library search strategy are available from the corresponding author.

^2. Further information related to the definitions of all included studies as well as the full data set from this study (81 systematic reviews, 1,148 studies) is available from the corresponding author.