Evaluation of palliative care publications in terms of health policy with bibliometric analysis method

Introduction: Management of health services is important for the effective and efficient execution of health services. Palliative care services, one of the basic components of health services, are effective in improving the quality of life of patients with serious health problems. It is essential to develop health policies regarding the presentation, management and change of palliative care services, the need for which is increasing day by day due to changing demographics and increasing population at the global level. In this context, the aim of the study is to examine the articles themed on palliative care in the health policy category in the Web of Science ( WoS ) database from a bibliometric perspective. Methods: The data of the study were determined by scanning the WoS database with the keyword "palliative care" between September 2-5, 2024. The data obtained were filtered in terms of document, language and WoS category. The articles were then analyzed using the VOSviewer scientific mapping tool. The analysis results were visualized according to four criteria: co-authorship, co- occurrence , citation and co-citation. Results: The study reached 3812 articles. The first article on palliative care was published in 1993, and most articles were published in 2021. It was determined that the country where the most articles on the subject were published was the United States, and the institution was King's College London. It was determined that the source with the most articles on palliative care was Palliative Medicine. It was seen that the author with the most publications on this subject was IJ. Higginson: the author with the most citations was DE. Meier: and the author cited according to the co-citation criterion was HM. Chochinov . The most frequently used keywords in articles on palliative care were determined as palliative care, cancer, end-of-life care, end of life, and quality of life. The keywords used in recent years regarding palliative care are Covid-19, accessibility to healthcare services, continuous professional development, series illness, healthcare utilization, digital health, symptom, virtual reality, adaptation, and competence. Conclusion: As a result, it has been observed that the number of articles on palliative care has increased in the last decade. The change in the keywords in the studies conducted on the subject indicates that there are new trends in palliative care literature. It is thought that the study will contribute to researchers, health workers and managers interested in palliative care.