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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Commun.
Sec. Health Communication
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2024.1400753

Health Journalism: A Bibliometric Analysis of Research Themes and Future Directions

Provisionally accepted
Shi Feng Shi Feng *
  • School of Media and Communication, College of Design and Social Context, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The body of health journalism research literature remains scattered across various disciplines and requires comprehensive understanding. This study aims to enhance researchers' comprehension of the field, by presenting a systematic review of SSCIindexed articles. Findings reveal two peaks in health journalism research from 1994 to 2023: during the 2009 H1N1 influenza and the COVID-19 outbreak. Using bibliographic coupling analysis, it was possible to define ten major research themes from the review. They were: How health stories are framed in the news; How audiences engage with health information online; How constructive journalism can improve the news reporting of public health crisis; How fact-checking can improve the news reporting of public health crisis; How health stories are framed from science journalism perspective; Why citizen journalism is significant in health news reporting;How health journalists perceive their journalistic role; Who serves as the news source for health news reporting; How health professionals impact health news reporting; and How peace journalism can be used for health news reporting on vulnerable populations.This research provides insights into the current state of health journalism research and outlines potential areas for further exploration in health journalism, spanning topics such as women and other marginalized communities in health reporting.

    Keywords: Health journalism, science journalism, bibliometric analysis, Citation analysis, Bibliographic coupling, Systematic Literature Review

    Received: 14 Mar 2024; Accepted: 16 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Feng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Shi Feng, School of Media and Communication, College of Design and Social Context, RMIT University, Melbourne, 3053, Victoria, Australia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.