Medical Rehabilitation as a Pillar of Quality of Life: A Bibliometric Mapping of Contemporary Research

Abstract

The present study aims to map the current field of research through a bibliometric analysis focusing on the concept of Quality of Life in Older People, taking Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation as a starting point. The methodology is based on the use of mathematical and statistical methods to analyze the scientific activity in the Scopus database over the period 2020-2023, identifying key publications, influential authors and thematic connections through keywords and co-citations. Filtering was performed by subject area, publication period and language of papers, resulting in 711 articles out of the original 2,272. The research focuses on identifying thematic clusters and the connections between them, with the main objective of decoding the relationships between various topics and their degree of centrality in the discussion on improving quality of life among older people. The results highlight areas of main interest as well as those niches less explored, opening perspectives for future research. This provides answers to the questions: which research themes are predominantly associated with quality of life through the lens of physical medicine and rehabilitation, and how these sub-themes interconnect in the research network.