Analysis of Indian Medical Tourism literature using a bibliometric and narrative-based approach
Resumo
India, among the developing countries, is a popular medical tourism destination for international medical patients looking for low-cost yet quality health care. The Medical Tourism discipline has a small body of literature, and scholarly research on India's attractiveness and potential as a top medical tourism destination is particularly scarce. The goal of this study, employing bibliometric analysis as a method, aims to identify the most influential research produced by academic stakeholders who have contributed to this field. The Bibliometrix - R package is used to analyze peer-reviewed journal articles indexed in Scopus and Web of Science databases published between 2011 and 2021 to achieve the study's objectives. The bibliometric study reveals the most cited documents and authors in the Indian medical tourism (MT) discipline, the top journals that publish MT-related papers, and the keywords and sub-themes that appear in the studies. Furthermore, since the Covid-19 pandemic has severely impacted the MT sector, the study also refers to secondary data sources such as articles and published reports from government, ministries, and consulting firms to gain insight into future trends that will likely affect international medical tourists seeking treatment in India.