PsychTopics now covers publication years from 1980 to 2018 and various usability improvements.
PsychTopics is developed in cooperation of ZPID's information services with the Big Data research unit. The aim is to map how psychological research from the German-speaking countries is developing and which topics are particularly frequently addressed. It comprises issues from all fields of psychology.
For every topic, relevant literature can be displayed, since the app is linked with ZPID's database PSYNDEX. Using topic modeling, topics are derived automatically from the database.
Users can interactively explore the psychological research issues in different ways, e.g. on which topics has been published the most in a given year or period, what are the "Hot" and "Cold Topics", and more. A topic on child and youth psychotherapy was most frequently addressed in 2018, for example.
PsychTopics is under development but free to use and open to everyone to explore. The app is optimized for larger screens, but also works on smartphones: https://abitter.shinyapps.io/psychtopics/
More information and technical details can be found in: Bittermann, A. (2019). Development of a user-friendly app for exploring and analyzing research topics in psychology. In G. Catalano, C. Daraio, M. Gregori, H. F. Moed & G. Ruocco (Hrsg.), Proceedings of the 17th Conference of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics (2634–2635). Rom: Edizioni Efesto. http://dx.doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.2521
Extra:
PsychTopics also includes topics on subjective well-being, social integration of migrants, and ecological sustainability, for which longitudinal data can be found in the recently published European Social Survey (ESS) Round 9 data.