Evaluating cluster analysis techniques in ChatGPT versus R-language with visualizations of author collaborations and keyword cooccurrences on articles in the Journal of Medicine (Baltimore) 2023: Bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Background: Analyses of author collaborations and keyword co-occurrences are frequently used in bibliographic research. However, no studies have introduced a straightforward yet effective approach, such as utilizing ChatGPT with Code Interpreter (ChatGPT_CI) or the R language, for creating cluster-oriented networks. This research aims to compare cluster analysis methods in ChatGPT_CI and R, visualize country-specific author collaborations, and then demonstrate the most effective approach. Methods: The research focused on articles and review pieces from Medicine (Baltimore) published in 2023. By August 20, 2023, we had gathered metadata for 1976 articles using the Web of Science core collections. The efficiency and effectiveness of cluster displays between ChatGPT_CI and R were compared by evaluating their time consumption. The best method was then employed to present a series of visualizations of country-specific author collaborations, rooted in social network and cluster analyses. Visualization techniques incorporating network charts, chord diagrams, circle bar plots, circle packing plots, heat dendrograms, dendrograms, and word clouds were demonstrated. We further highlighted the research profiles of 2 prolific authors using timeline visuals. Results: The research findings include that (1) the most active contributors were China, Nanjing Medical University (China), the Medical School Department, and Dr Chou from Taiwan when considering countries, institutions, departments, and individual authors, respectively; (2) the highest cited articles originated from Medicine (Baltimore) accounting for 4.53%: New England Journal of Medicine, PLOS ONE, LANCET, and The Journal of the American Medical Association, with respective contributions of 3.25%, 2.7%, 2.52%, and 1.54%; (3) visual cluster analysis in R proved to be more efficient and effective than ChatGPT_CI, reducing the time taken from 1 hour to just 3 minutes; (4) 7 cluster-focused networks were crafted using R on a custom platform; and (5) the research trajectories of 2 prominent authors (Dr Brin from the United States and Dr Chow from Taiwan) and articles themes in Medicine 2023 were depicted using timeline visuals. Conclusions: This research highlighted the efficient and effective methods for conducting cluster analyses of author collaborations using R. For future related studies, such as keyword co-occurrence analysis, R is recommended as a viable alternative for bibliographic research.