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Topic · General Health Professions

Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare

Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare is a research topic within General Health Professions. Science Explorer counts 17k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the impact of language interpretation, medical interpreters, and language barriers on healthcare communication, quality of care, and health disparities. It investigates the role of professional interpreters, patient-physician language concordance, and the challenges faced by individuals with limited English proficiency in accessing healthcare services. The cluster also delves into cultural competence, professionalism in interpreting, and the use of interpreter services to improve patient outcomes.

  • Language Barriers
  • Medical Interpreters
  • Limited English Proficiency
  • Healthcare Communication
  • Cultural Competence
  • Patient-Physician Language Concordance
  • Interpreter Services
  • Quality of Care
  • Health Disparities
  • Professionalism in Interpreting
Research works
17k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+21%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
40% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

Which countries lead Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (1.1k and 381 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.1k works
  2. 2 China 381 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 313 works
  4. 4 Spain 219 works
  5. 5 Australia 202 works
  6. 6 Canada 174 works
  7. 7 France 122 works
  8. 8 Germany 105 works
  9. 9 Italy 88 works
  10. 10 Türkiye 77 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 40.2%China: 13.6%United Kingdom: 11.1%Spain: 7.8%6 others listed: 27.3%40%largest
United States1,130 · 40.2%China381 · 13.6%United Kingdom313 · 11.1%Spain219 · 7.8%6 others listed767 · 27.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare research?

By volume in 2022-now, Harvard University publishes the most Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare research, followed by Universidad de Alcalá and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Harvard UniversityUnited States 48 works
  2. 2 Universidad de AlcaláSpain 37 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 34 works
  4. 4 UNSW SydneyAustralia 25 works
  5. 5 University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 24 works
  6. 6 Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 20 works
  7. 7 University of WashingtonUnited States 19 works
  8. 8 University of BolognaItaly 19 works
  9. 9 University of TorontoCanada 19 works
  10. 10 University of HelsinkiFinland 18 works

Who are the leading researchers in Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare include Martin McKee and Aziz Sheikh.

  1. 1 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k citations
  2. 2 Aziz Sheikh United Kingdom 214k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare?

The most cited paper in Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare is "Category Interference in Translation and Picture Naming: Evidence for Asymmetric Connections Between Bilingual Memory Representations" (Judith F. Kroll, Elizabeth C. Stewart, 1994), with 2,653 citations. Next come "Defining Cultural Competence: A Practical Framework for Addressing Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Health and Health Care" (1,720) and "The Impact of Medical Interpreter Services on the Quality of Health Care: A Systematic Review" (1,695).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Category Interference in Translation and Picture Naming: Evidence for Asymmetric Connections Between Bilingual Memory Representations Judith F. Kroll, Elizabeth C. Stewart · Journal of Memory and Language Apr 1994 2,653
2 Defining Cultural Competence: A Practical Framework for Addressing Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Health and Health Care Julio Roberto Betancourt · Public Health Reports 19 Jun 2003 1,720
3 The Impact of Medical Interpreter Services on the Quality of Health Care: A Systematic Review Glenn Flores · Medical Care Research and Review Review 13 May 2005 1,695
4 Evaluating the contribution of interpretative phenomenological analysis Jonathan Ashley Smith · Health Psychology Review 4 Oct 2010 1,628
5 Do Professional Interpreters Improve Clinical Care for Patients with Limited English Proficiency? A Systematic Review of the Literature Leah Karliner, Elizabeth A. Jacobs, Alice Hm Chen et al. · Health Services Research ReviewOpen access 31 Aug 2006 1,573
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare research done?

The largest centres of Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), New York (United States), Beijing (China) and Sydney (Australia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Alcalá de Henares and Geneva.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 77 works
  2. 2 New YorkUnited States 62 works
  3. 3 BeijingChina 56 works
  4. 4 SydneyAustralia 56 works
  5. 5 BostonUnited States 55 works
  6. 6 MelbourneAustralia 50 works
  7. 7 Hong KongChina 45 works
  8. 8 ParisFrance 38 works
  9. 9 Alcalá de HenaresSpain 37 works
  10. 10 ShanghaiChina 36 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Alcalá de HenaresES · 37.2 works42×
  2. GenevaCH · 21.5 works5.9×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare than the world average.

See Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare on the map

Where is the best place to study Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare?

Among universities, judged by research, University of California, San Francisco, Harvard University and UNSW Sydney score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 21.9%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Califo…UNSW SydneyHong Kong Polytechni…Harvard University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 79.925.6%8.6×24 +180.3%
2Harvard UniversityUnited States 77.620.7%4.0×48 +56.3%
3UNSW SydneyAustralia 72.922.1%7.3×25 +120.3%
4Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 68.121.9%6.0×20 +77.5%
5University of WashingtonUnited States 66.926.6%4.4×19 +141.2%
6University of GenevaSwitzerland 66.524.1%10.6×17 -3.9%
7Northwestern UniversityUnited States 63.426.2%4.2×13 +73.1%
8University of California, Los AngelesUnited States 61.718.6%4.0×17 +51.9%
9University of ViennaAustria 59.812.2%8.8×17 +114.9%
10University of LeedsUnited Kingdom 53.721.0%5.6×12 +42.7%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare, country by country

Is Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 21% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2023. The fastest-growing topics are Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.019% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare0.018% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare10.1% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

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