چکیده (انگلیسی):

Background:General practitioners (GPs) are the most important providers of primary health care, as proven by
related research published several decades ago. However, the knowledge structure and theme trends of such
research remain unclear. Accordingly, this study aimed to provide an overview of the development of research
on GPs over the period of 1999 to 2014.
Methods:Studies on GPs conducted from 1999 to 2014 were retrieved from PubMed. In this work, co-word, social
network analysis, and theme trends analyses were conducted to reveal the knowledge structures and thematic
evolution of research on GPs.
Results:The number of conducted studies on GPs increased. However, growth speed slowed down during the
past 16 years. A total of 27 high-frequency keywords were identified in 1999 to 2003, and more new and specific
high-frequency keywords emerged in the subsequent periods. The dynamic of this field was first divergent and
then considered convergent. Specifically, network centralization is 19.77 %, 19.09 %, and 13.04 % in 1999 to 2003,
2004 to 2008 and 2009 to 2014, respectively. The major topics of research on GPs completed from 1999 to 2014
were“physician/family,”“attitude of health personnel,” and“primary health care,” and“general practitioner”
communities, and so on.
Conclusion:The research themes on GPs are relatively stable at the beginning of the 21
st
century. However, the
thematic evolution and research topics of research on GPs are changing dynamically in recent years. Themes
related to the roles and competencies of GPs, and the relations between general practitioner and patients/others
have become research foci on GPs. In addition, more substantial research especially on comprehensive approaches
and holistic modeling, which have been defined in the European Definition of General Practice/Family Medicine, are
expected to be accomplished.