ABSTRACT
This research team extracted keywords from 953 papers published in the Journal of Dental Hygiene Science from 2001 to 2018 for keyword and centrality analyses using the Keyword Network Analysis method. Data were analyzed using Excel 2016 and NetMiner Version 4.4.1. By conducting a deeper analysis between keywords by overall keyword and time frame, we arrived at the following conclusions. For the 17 years considered for this study, the most frequently used words in a dental science paper were “Health,”“Oral,”“Hygiene,” and “Hygienist.” The words that form the center by connecting major words in the Journal of Dental Hygiene through the upper-degree centrality words were “Health,”“Dental,”“Oral,”“Hygiene,” and “Hygienist.” The upper betweenness centrality words were “Dental,”“Health,”“Oral,”“Hygiene,” and “Student.” Analysis results of the degree centrality words per period revealed “Health” (0.227), “Dental” (0.136), and “Hygiene” (0.136) for period 1; “Health” (0.242), “Dental” (0.177), and “Hygiene” (0.113) for period 2; “Health” (0.200), “Dental” (0.176), and “Oral” (0.082) for period 3; and “Dental” (0.235), “Health” (0.206), and “Oral” (0.147) for period 4. Analysis results of the betweenness centrality words per period revealed “Oral” (0.281) and “Health” (0.199) for period 1; “Dental” (0.205) and “Health” (0.169) for period 2, with the weight then dispersing to “Hygiene” (0.112), “Hygienist” (0.054), and “Oral” (0.053); “Health” (0.258) and “Dental” (0.246) for period 3; and “Oral” (0.364), “Health” (0.353), and “Dental” (0.333) for period 4. Based on the above results, we hope that further studies will be conducted in the future with diverse study subjects.