Dynamics of a Global Zoonotic Research Network Over 33 Years (1980-2012).

OBJECTIVE: The increasing rate of outbreaks in humans of zoonotic diseases requires detailed examination of the education, research, and practice of animal health and its connection to human health. This study investigated the collaboration network of different fields engaged in conducting zoonotic research from a transdisciplinary perspective. METHODS: Examination of the dynamics of this network for a 33-year period from 1980 to 2012 is presented through the development of a large scientometric database from Scopus. In our analyses we compared several properties of these networks, including density, clustering coefficient, giant component, and centrality measures over time. We also elicited patterns in different fields of study collaborating with various other fields for zoonotic research. RESULTS: We discovered that the strongest collaborations across disciplines are formed among the fields of medicine; biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology; immunology and microbiology; veterinary; agricultural and biological sciences; and social sciences. Furthermore, the affiliation network is growing overall in terms of collaborative research among different fields of study such that more than two-thirds of all possible collaboration links among disciplines have already been formed. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that zoonotic research scientists in different fields (human or animal health, social science, earth and environmental sciences, engineering) have been actively collaborating with each other over the past 11 years.

Evolutionary longitudinal network dynamics of global zoonotic research.

At global and local levels, we are observing an increasing range and rate of disease outbreaks that show evidence of jumping from animals to humans, and from food to humans. Zoonotic infections (i.e. Hendra, swine flu, anthrax) affect animal health and can be deadly to humans. The increasing rate of outbreaks of infectious diseases transferring from animals to humans (i.e. zoonotic diseases) necessitates detailed understanding of the education, research and practice of animal health and its connection to human health. These emerging microbial threats underline the need to exploring the evolutionary dynamics of zoonotic research across public health and animal health. This study investigates the collaboration network of different countries engaged in conducting zoonotic research. We explore the dynamics of this network from 1980 to 2012 based on large scientific data developed from Scopus. In our analyses, we compare several properties of the network including density, clustering coefficient, giant component and centrality measures over time. We also map the network over different time intervals using VOSviewer. We analyzed 5182 publication records. We found United States and United Kingdom as the most collaborative countries working with 110 and 74 other countries in 1048 and 599 cases, respectively. Our results show increasing close collaboration among scientists from the United States, several European countries including United Kingdom, Italy, France, Netherland, Switzerland, China and Australia with scientists from other parts of the world.

Clinical information systems end user satisfaction: the expectations and needs congruencies effects.

Prior research on information systems (IS) shows that users' attitudes and continuance intentions are associated with their satisfaction with information systems. As such, the increasing amount of investments in clinical information systems (CIS) signifies the importance of understanding CIS end users' (i.e., clinicians) satisfaction. In this study, we develop a conceptual framework to identify the cognitive determinants of clinicians' satisfaction formation. The disconfirmation paradigm serves as the core of the framework. The expectations and needs congruency models are the two models of this paradigm, and perceived performance is the basis of the comparisons in the models. The needs and expectations associated with the models are also specified. The survey methodology is adopted in this study to empirically validate the proposed research model. The survey is conducted at a public hospital and results in 112 and 203 valid responses (56% and 98% response rates) from doctors and nurses respectively. The partial least squares (PLS) method is used to analyze the data. The results of the study show that perceived CIS performance is the most influential factor on clinicians' (i.e., doctors and nurses) satisfaction. Doctors' expectations congruency is the next significant determinant of their satisfaction. Contrary to most previous findings, nurses' expectations and expectations congruency do not show a significant effect on their satisfaction. However, the needs congruency is found to significantly affect nurses' satisfaction.