Introducing the open biomedical map of science

Abstract

This article introduces work in progress to develop a new, open biomedical map of science (OBMS) using the PubMed citation database. The new science map represents bimodal network relationships between journals and medical subject heading (MeSH) descriptors, based on a journal's articles indexed in the MEDLINE component of PubMed. We review the current efforts to use PubMed data in science of science studies and science mapping. As part of the development process, we compare the journals indexed in PubMed with journals included in the 2011 UCSD map of science to establish a baseline of disciplinary coverage of PubMed for the period 2009–2019. Journal article frequency is analyzed to establish the minimum number of citations required by a journal for inclusion in a map of science. A prototype OBMS is presented, and we discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the OBMS, as well as the next steps for using and productizing this new open map for general and free usage.