Carbon Footprint of Healthcare: A Bibliometric Analysis Using Visual Mapping Technique

Abstract

The main purpose of this research is to provide a bibliometric overview of the past and present leading trends in scientific studies on carbon footprint in the field of health services. For this purpose, a total of 626 studies published in the Web of Science database were examined. VOSviewer software was used for analysis in the obtained data set. It was determined that the first study in this field was published in 2009, the highest number of studies and the highest number of citations belonged to 2024, and almost all of the studies were written in English. A continuous increase was detected in the number of studies and citations, especially in 2020 and after. The most productive author was “Forbes Mcgain”; the most productive country was “England”; the most productive university was “University of Sydney”. When the WOS categories of the studies were examined, it was seen that the studies were mostly in the “Environmental Sciences” category, and when the document types were examined, it was among the results that research articles constituted 75% of the total studies. According to the network map, the most used keyword was carbon footprint. Afterwards, it was determined that the keywords climate change, sustainability, environment, environmental sustainability, health services, life cycle assessment were frequently used. The first four keywords used in terms of years, carbon footprint, climate change, environment and sustainability, are still at the forefront among the results. However, it was determined that the keywords surgery, covid-19, public health, sustainability in health, planetary health, artificial intelligence, endoscopy and health policy were only included in studies conducted in 2020 and later. The most cited journal was “Lancet Planetary Health”, and the most cited author was “Forbes Mcgain”, who was also the most productive author. In the co-authorship analysis, England was the country with the most collaboration, while the “University of Melbourne” had the most collaboration when looking at universities. In Turkey, it was concluded that there were very few studies on the subject and that collaboration was very few. This study will provide researchers with a broad perspective on the subject and will provide them with the opportunity to make a comprehensive panoramic assessment.