Physiotherapy

Top Research Topics at Physiotherapy?

Physiotherapy mainly tackles studies in Physical therapy, Physical medicine and rehabilitation, Rehabilitation, Nursing and Medical education. The journal tackles research in various disciplines, including Physical therapy and In patient. Physical medicine and rehabilitation research discussed connects with the study of Stroke.

• Physical therapy (37.60%)
• Physical medicine and rehabilitation (17.43%)
• Rehabilitation (8.05%)

What are the most cited papers published in the journal?

• The Oswestry low back pain disability questionnaire (3442 citations)
• Reliability: What is it, and how is it measured? (464 citations)
• Normal walking speed: a descriptive meta-analysis. (416 citations)

Research areas of the most cited articles at Physiotherapy:

The most cited articles focus on Physical therapy, Physical medicine and rehabilitation, Rehabilitation, MEDLINE and Psychological intervention. The journal publications focus on Physical therapy but sometimes tackle the closely related topic of Low back pain which is concerned with Back pain. The journal articles explore topics in Physical medicine and rehabilitation which can be helpful for research in disciplines like Stroke, Reliability (statistics) and Motor skill.

What topics the last edition of the journal is best known for?

• Internal medicine
• Surgery
• Disease

The previous edition focused in particular on these issues:

Physiotherapy explores disciplines such as Physical therapy, Rehabilitation, Psychological intervention, Randomized controlled trial and MEDLINE. Topics in Physical therapy were tackled in line with various other fields like Clinical trial, Quality of life, Primary care, Meta-analysis and Low back pain. Issues in Rehabilitation were discussed, taking into consideration concepts from other disciplines like Intensive care, Cognition, Physical medicine and rehabilitation and Medical emergency.

Physiotherapy explores research in Stroke and overlapping concepts in Upper limb to expand the discourse in Physical medicine and rehabilitation. The research on Psychological intervention featured in it combines topics in other fields like Perception, Exercise adherence, Chronic pain, Focus group and Professional development. While Randomized controlled trial is the key highlight in the journal, it also covered some subjects on Intervention (counseling) and Flexibility (personality).

The most cited articles from the last journal are:

• Rehabilitation to enable recovery from COVID-19: a rapid systematic review. (6 citations)
• “Physio Anywhere”: digitally-enhanced outpatient care as a legacy of coronavirus 2020 (6 citations)
• Identifying factors that predict attrition among first year physiotherapy students: a retrospective analysis. (5 citations)

Papers citation over time

A key indicator for each journal is its effectiveness in reaching other researchers with the papers published at that venue.

The chart below presents the interquartile range (first quartile 25%, median 50% and third quartile 75%) of the number of citations of articles over time.

Top authors and change over time

The top authors publishing in Physiotherapy (based on the number of publications) are:

• Alison Rushton (44 papers) published 1 paper at the last edition, 9 less than at the previous edition,
• Karen Barker (44 papers) published 3 papers at the last edition, 5 less than at the previous edition,
• Anne Parry (38 papers) absent at the last edition,
• Nadine E. Foster (38 papers) published 4 papers at the last edition, 1 more than at the previous edition,
• Nicola R Heneghan (37 papers) published 2 papers at the last edition, 7 less than at the previous edition.

The overall trend for top authors publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top authors.

Top affiliations and change over time

Only papers with recognized affiliations are considered

The top affiliations publishing in Physiotherapy (based on the number of publications) are:

• American Physical Therapy Association (192 papers) published 1 paper at the last edition,
• RMIT University (146 papers) published 4 papers at the last edition, 8 less than at the previous edition,
• University of Sydney (80 papers) published 2 papers at the last edition the same number as at the previous edition,
• University of Queensland (76 papers) published 3 papers at the last edition the same number as at the previous edition,
• King's College London (65 papers) published 3 papers at the last edition, 1 more than at the previous edition.

The overall trend for top affiliations publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top affiliations.

Publication chance based on affiliation

The publication chance index shows the ratio of articles published by the best research institutions in the journal edition to all articles published within that journal. The best research institutions were selected based on the largest number of articles published during all editions of the journal.

The chart below presents the percentage ratio of articles from top institutions (based on their ranking of total papers).Top affiliations were grouped by their rank into the following tiers: top 1-10, top 11-20, top 21-50, and top 51+. Only articles with a recognized affiliation are considered.

During the most recent 2021 edition, 1.15% of publications had an unrecognized affiliation. Out of the publications with recognized affiliations, 32.56% were posted by at least one author from the top 10 institutions publishing in the journal. Another 11.63% included authors affiliated with research institutions from the top 11-20 affiliations. Institutions from the 21-50 range included 19.77% of all publications and 36.05% were from other institutions.

Returning Authors Index

A very common phenomenon observed among researchers publishing scientific articles is the intentional selection of journals they have already attended in the past. In particular, it is worth analyzing the case when the authors participate in the same journal from year to year.

The Returning Authors Index presented below illustrates the ratio of authors who participated in both a given as well as the previous edition of the journal in relation to all participants in a given year.

Returning Institution Index

The graph below shows the Returning Institution Index, illustrating the ratio of institutions that participated in both a given and the previous edition of the conference in relation to all affiliations present in a given year.

The experience to innovation index

Our experience to innovation index was created to show a cross-section of the experience level of authors publishing in a journal. The index includes the authors publishing at the last edition of a journal, grouped by total number of publications throughout their academic career (P) and the total number of citations of these publications ever received (C).

The group intervals were selected empirically to best show the diversity of the authors' experiences, their labels were selected as a convenience, not as judgment. The authors were divided into the following groups:

• Novice - P < 5 or C < 25 (the number of publications less than 5 or the number of citations less than 25),
• Competent - P < 10 or C < 100 (the number of publications less than 10 or the number of citations less than 100),
• Experienced - P < 25 or C < 625 (the number of publications less than 25 or the number of citations less than 625),
• Master - P < 50 or C < 2500 (the number of publications less than 50 or the number of citations less than 2500),
• Star - P ≥ 50 and C ≥ 2500 (both the number of publications greater than 50 and the number of citations greater than 2500).

The chart below illustrates experience levels of first authors in cases of publications with multiple authors.

Online Education in Physiotherapy: A Rising Trend

With the rising trend in online education, it's notable that there's a surge in the number of students who are choosing to study physiotherapy remotely. Online education in physiotherapy, like other disciplines, are gaining popularity due to the convenience and flexibility they offer. This is especially beneficial to working physicians and medical practitioners who wish to continue their studies while still maintaining a full-time job.

Further, online programs are designed to mimic traditional classroom settings – they cover the same curriculum and are typically taught by faculty members who are experts in their field. Online courses also often offer more individualized attention and support, as they typically have a lower student-to-teacher ratio compared to a classroom setting. This method of education is proving to be very effective, as more and more institutes are offering online courses, notably in the nursing discipline.

For instance, Massachusetts is home to several renowned institutions that offer top-rated online nursing programs. You can learn more about the best online nursing programs in Massachusetts which offer a robust curriculum, comprehensive hands-on experience, and excellent job placement rates.

In conclusion, the future of physiotherapy education lies in embracing online learning. The pandemic has shown us the importance of flexibility in education, and going forward, more universities will likely adopt a hybrid model of learning. That being said, traditional on-campus learning will likely continue to play a significant role in shaping the future of education, particularly for practical fields like physiotherapy.