Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Demography

Technology Use by Older Adults

Technology Use by Older Adults is a research topic within Demography. Science Explorer counts 17k research works in it since 1952. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the intersection of technology and aging, focusing on the adoption, use, and impact of various technologies among older adults. It delves into topics such as internet usage, social isolation, digital divide, gerontechnology, social support, inclusive design, health technology, and lifelong learning.

  • Older Adults
  • Technology Use
  • Internet
  • Social Isolation
  • Digital Divide
  • Gerontechnology
  • Social Support
  • Inclusive Design
  • Health Technology
  • Lifelong Learning
Research works
17k
fractional, since 1952
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
+58%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
32% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Technology Use by Older Adults

Which countries lead Technology Use by Older Adults research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (1.4k and 1k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.4k works
  2. 2 China 1k works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 400 works
  4. 4 Canada 271 works
  5. 5 Germany 239 works
  6. 6 Australia 231 works
  7. 7 India 230 works
  8. 8 South Korea 202 works
  9. 9 Brazil 196 works
  10. 10 Italy 181 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: 31.7%China: 23.2%United Kingdom: 9.3%Canada: 6.3%6 others listed: 29.6%32%largest
United States1,372 · 31.7%China1,002 · 23.2%United Kingdom400 · 9.3%Canada271 · 6.3%6 others listed1,279 · 29.6%

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

Which institutions lead Technology Use by Older Adults research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign publishes the most Technology Use by Older Adults research, followed by University of Toronto and Yonsei University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignUnited States 38 works
  2. 2 University of TorontoCanada 37 works
  3. 3 Yonsei UniversitySouth Korea 33 works
  4. 4 National University of SingaporeSingapore 27 works
  5. 5 Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 26 works
  6. 6 University of AveiroPortugal 26 works
  7. 7 Indiana UniversityUnited States 25 works
  8. 8 University of MichiganUnited States 25 works
  9. 9 Cornell UniversityUnited States 24 works
  10. 10 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 23 works

Who are the leading researchers in Technology Use by Older Adults?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Technology Use by Older Adults include Hermann Brenner, Emelia J. Benjamin and Graeme J. Hankey.

  1. 1 Hermann Brenner Germany 343k citations
  2. 2 Emelia J. Benjamin United States 341k citations
  3. 3 Graeme J. Hankey Australia 316k citations
  4. 4 Florian Fischer Germany 257k citations
  5. 5 Josep María Haro Spain 250k citations
  6. 6 James Thomas United Kingdom 242k 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 Technology Use by Older Adults?

The most cited paper in Technology Use by Older Adults is "Older Adults' Reasons for Using Technology while Aging in Place" (Sebastiaan Theodorus Michaël Peek, Katrien Ger Luijkx, M. D. Rijnaard et al., 2015), with 19,753 citations. Next come "Journal of Universal Computer Science" (3,394) and "Factors predicting the use of technology: Findings from the center for research and education on aging and technology enhancement (create)." (2,135).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Older Adults' Reasons for Using Technology while Aging in Place Sebastiaan Theodorus Michaël Peek, Katrien Ger Luijkx, M. D. Rijnaard et al. · Gerontology Open access 4 Jun 2015 19,753
2 Journal of Universal Computer Science Arto K. Salomaa, Cristian S. Calude, Hermann A. Maurer · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) Open access 7 Apr 2020 3,394
3 Factors predicting the use of technology: Findings from the center for research and education on aging and technology enhancement (create). Sara J. Czaja, Neil H. Charness, Arthur D. Fisk et al. · Psychology and Aging Open access Jun 2006 2,135
4 Effects of Cognitive Training Interventions With Older Adults Karlene Ball, Daniel B. Berch, Karin F. Helmers et al. · JAMA Open access 13 Nov 2002 2,049
5 Age differences in short-term retention of rapidly changing information. Wayne K. Kirchner · Journal of Experimental Psychology 1958 1,835
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Technology Use by Older Adults research done?

The largest centres of Technology Use by Older Adults research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Seoul (South Korea), London (United Kingdom) and Shanghai (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Aveiro and Eindhoven.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 140 works
  2. 2 SeoulSouth Korea 112 works
  3. 3 LondonUnited Kingdom 84 works
  4. 4 ShanghaiChina 82 works
  5. 5 Hong KongChina 74 works
  6. 6 MelbourneAustralia 67 works
  7. 7 SingaporeSingapore 67 works
  8. 8 TorontoCanada 62 works
  9. 9 NanjingChina 58 works
  10. 10 TokyoJapan 57 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. AveiroPT · 25.7 works12×
  2. EindhovenNL · 20.5 works7.0×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Technology Use by Older Adults than the world average.

See Technology Use by Older Adults on the map

Where is the best place to study Technology Use by Older Adults?

Among universities, judged by research, National University of Singapore, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Peking University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 17.37%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Peking UniversityNational University …Hong Kong Polytechni…University of Illino…
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.

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
1National University of SingaporeSingapore 75.522.2%4.0×27 +133.5%
2University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignUnited States 69.813.7%7.6×38 +61.7%
3Peking UniversityChina 68.729.7%1.5×18 +306.2%
4Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 67.013.9%5.3×26 +163.9%
5University College LondonUnited Kingdom 65.918.1%2.2×20 +28.3%
6Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 64.217.4%2.6×23 +138.4%
7Yonsei UniversitySouth Korea 63.311.4%6.3×34 +173.2%
8Monash UniversityAustralia 63.118.1%3.8×21 +66.5%
9Indiana UniversityUnited States 61.716.1%4.5×25 +19.4%
10University of MichiganUnited States 61.213.1%2.8×25 +36.1%

Universities only. The score blends 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 Technology Use by Older Adults, country by country

Is Technology Use by Older Adults research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 58% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Technology Use by Older Adults.

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 Technology Use by Older Adults as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.027% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Technology Use by Older Adults0.033% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Technology Use by Older Adults 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%Technology Use by Older Adults10.0% 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

Ask a question or share a note about Technology Use by Older Adults. Posts are plain text and can be reported.