Thirty-eight years of 'wellbeing' research: bibliometric analysis of open access documents

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to explore the theme 'Wellbeing' in open access documents from 1982 to 2020. Scopus database was used to conduct the bibliometric analysis of 9604 open access documents. VOSviewer software was used to analyse the research articles associated with 'Wellbeing' research. Search was limited to keywords of 'Wellbeing' and 'Well-being'. Only articles of English language and open access from 1982 to the year 2020 was selected for the analysis. Results of bibliometric maps revealed that the United Kingdom was having the highest total link strength among all the countries globally. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health published by MDPI AG was at the top in publishing the open access documents pertaining to 'Wellbeing' search and the most prolific author was Bruera, Éduardo D. The highest number of open access publications were happened in the field of Medicine. Quality of life, health, mental health, depression, and physical activity were the major keywords that were associated with central theme 'Wellbeing'. This study, to best of our knowledge, is the first of its kind in mapping the wellbeing in open access documents of Scopus. This will aid in future research directions for the researchers.