Search

Background Scientific research is an important part of discipline construction and a driving force of discipline development. However, there is a lack of systematic analysis of research capacity and quality in the field of general practice and community health in China. Objective To understand the current situation of China's general practice research capabilities, analyze the existing problems and provide a basis for further improving the research capabilities in the field of general practice and community health in China. Methods In December 2021, academic papers published from 2001 to 2020 in Chinese General Practice, Journal of General Practitioners, China General Practice, and Primary Health Care in China were retrieved from CNKI platform. The years of 2001—2020 were divided into four time periods, on average of 5 years, and the regional distribution, institution type distribution, investigator cooperation network, and study type distribution of the institutions of the first author of the included articles were bibliometrically analyzed using Vosviewer 1.6.17. Results Finally, 54 726 papers were included. From 2001 to 2020, research institutions in East China published the largest number of papers (24 015, 43.88%) , followed by North China (11 288, 20.63%) and South China (5 437, 9.93%) . There was an overall upward trend in the number of publications in community health service centers, which increased from 15 in 2001 (1.31% of the total annual volume) to 203 in 2020 (9.38% of the total annual volume) . A total of 8 collaborative networks emerged from the analysis of co-occurrence among investigators, including the following research teams: Department of General Practice of Zhongshan Hospital, the Journal of Chinese General Practice, and the Capital Medical University. Regarding the types of studies, the percentage of studies in the theoretical class decreased from 28.68% (329/1 147) in 2001 to 17.93% (388/2 164) in 2020; the proportion of intervention type studies gradually increased from 10.11% (116/1 147) in 2001 to 17.28% (374/2 164) in 2020, but its proportion in the overall studies was still low; the percentage of observational studies was the highest, with 64.79% (1 402/2 164) in 2020. Conclusion The research in the field of general practice and community health in China has shown a rapid development trend from 2001 to 2020, but there still remain some problems such as unbalanced development of research capabilities, insufficient cooperation and communication of research teams, and insufficient innovation of research methods. It is recommended to further strengthen the construction of domestic scientific research cooperation network and focus on improving the quality of research.