Research for trends and characterization in Journal of The Korean Society for School & Community Health Education on life-cycle categories from 2000 to 2023 - Based on the adult population -

Background & Objectives: This study aims to identify research trends and characteristics of papers related to adult topics published in the Journal of the Korean Society for School and Community Health Education from 2000 to 2023, and to seek the direction of academic development of this journal in the future. Method: A total of 87 related papers were analyzed by categorizing specific subjects, research topics, research designs, data collection methods, keywords, and years of publication from 2000 to 2023. Results: Of the 407 papers registered in KCI-listed journals, a total of 87 papers were published on adult topics, and the subjects were mostly male and female (65 papers, 74.7%). The research topic was prevention and management of non-communicable diseases (22.9%), the research design was quantitative cross-sectional research (86 papers), and the research data collection method was direct survey (54%). The results of the 10-year cycle comparison from 2000 showed that the average number of papers published per year (6.5) increased in the 2020s compared to 2000, the number of papers targeting women decreased, the number of papers related to mental illness increased, and the number of secondary data collection methods increased. The main keywords of the research were “teachers,” “health,” “depression,” and “education.” Conclusion: In 1999, the Journal of the Korean Society for School and Community Health Education began with research papers focusing on school-age children, and as the scope of papers expanded to cover the entire life cycle, it contributed greatly to the field of health education in Korea along with quantitative expansion. In the future, in order for this journal to promote research in the domestic health field and increase its contribution, it should also consider improving the quality of paper review and ensuring that papers on topics that meet the social needs of the health sciences field are published.