New emerging trends in the thematic area «Public health and healthcare», identified by the methods of scientometric analysis: 2024–2025

Introduction. Technological developments, changing structure of medical service consumption, and shifts in the global socio-economic landscape are becoming sources and factors driving new trends in global healthcare development. The emergence of trends at their inception stage, as an indistinguishable sign of a new process, is commonly referred to as weak signals. Their early fixation is a particularly challenging task, which requires a comprehensive scientometric analysis using special analytical applications and tools. The purpose of the study : to identify weak signals of emerging trends in “Public health and healthcare” thematic area based on an analysis of “hot papers”, “research horizons” and “research fronts” recorded in early 2025. Materials and methods . A comprehensive scientometric analysis was performed, involving the use of three methodological approaches to detecting weak signals: the method of determining research fronts (using the analytical application to the Web of Science database – Essential Science Indicators), the method of determining “hot citation” publication (Hot papers) and the method of identifying research horizons (using the Research Horizon Navigator analytical application). Results . A comprehensive scientometric analysis has been performed, that integrated three methodological approaches to identifying weak signals in “Public health and healthcare” thematic area. Of the three methods used to detect weak signals, the “Research Horizons” algorithm can be identified as the most “sensitive” tool. However, all three methods yielded a similar list of emerging and established trends. Conclusion . The following research areas are considered “emerging trends”: adolescent health, mechanisms of healthy aging, ethical issues of using AI and machine learning technologies in healthcare, accreditation of public health organizations, achieving equity in health care delivery, and new approaches to using and analyzing medical data.