earticle

영어

This study investigates the social network among authors to improve the quality of Panel researches. Korea Health Panel (KHP), implemented by the collaborative work between KIHASA (Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs) and NHIC (National Health Insurance Service) since 2008, provides a critical infrastructure for policy making and management for insurance system and healthcare service. Using bibliographic data extracted from academic databases, eighty articles were extracted in domestic and international journals from 2008 to 2014, April. Data were analyzed by NetMiner 4.0, social network analysis software, to identify the extent to which authors are involved in healthcare use research and the patterns of collaboration between them. Analysis reveals that most authors publish a very small number of articles and collaborate within tightly knit circles. Centrality measures confirm these findings by revealing that only a small percentage of the authors are structurally dominant, and influence the flow of communication among others. It leads to the discovery of dependencies between the elements of the co-author network such as affiliates in health panel communities. Based on these findings, we recommend that Korea Health Panel could benefit from cultivating a wider base of influential authors and promoting broader collaborations.