Investigating the Diffusion of Agent-based Modelling and System Dynamics Modelling in Population Health and Healthcare Research

Shiyong Liu; Hong Xue; Yan Li; Judy Xu; Youfa Wang

doi:10.1002/sres.2460

Investigating the Diffusion of Agent-based Modelling and System Dynamics Modelling in Population Health and Healthcare Research

Shiyong Liu, Hong Xue, Yan Li, Judy Xu, Youfa Wang

School of Medicine

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

System dynamics modelling (SDM) applications in health research began to appear in 1972 while agent-based modelling (ABM) applications first appeared in 1995, but their applications have increased dramatically over the last decade. This study examines the diffusion patterns of these two approaches and the main driving factors. We conducted a systematic analysis of 653 journal articles published from 1972 to 2014 that employed two approaches in health research and found that over the last few years, there has been a rapid increase of studies in using ABM compared with SDM, partly due to the launching of new journals and the application of ABM to a broad range of topics. The concentration of SDM studies in just a few journals may be adversely affecting its diffusion. The last decade saw acceleration in using ABM to investigate infectious diseases and cancer while SDM applications have predominantly focused on non-communicable diseases such as obesity.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	203-215
Number of pages	13
Journal	Systems Research and Behavioral Science
Volume	35
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.2460
State	Published - Mar 1 2018

Keywords

agent-based modelling
diffusion
health research
system dynamics modelling
systems science

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Social Sciences
Strategy and Management
Information Systems and Management

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10.1002/sres.2460

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abstract = "System dynamics modelling (SDM) applications in health research began to appear in 1972 while agent-based modelling (ABM) applications first appeared in 1995, but their applications have increased dramatically over the last decade. This study examines the diffusion patterns of these two approaches and the main driving factors. We conducted a systematic analysis of 653 journal articles published from 1972 to 2014 that employed two approaches in health research and found that over the last few years, there has been a rapid increase of studies in using ABM compared with SDM, partly due to the launching of new journals and the application of ABM to a broad range of topics. The concentration of SDM studies in just a few journals may be adversely affecting its diffusion. The last decade saw acceleration in using ABM to investigate infectious diseases and cancer while SDM applications have predominantly focused on non-communicable diseases such as obesity.",

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note = "Funding Information: The study was supported in part by the Chinese National Social Science Foundation (NSSF:12CGL103), the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) (1R01HD064685-01A1 and U54HD070725) and research grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 71473202). The U54 project (U54 HD070725) is funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health (OD). Dr Youfa Wang is the principle investigator of the projects. The content of the paper is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funders. Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.",

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N1 - Funding Information: The study was supported in part by the Chinese National Social Science Foundation (NSSF:12CGL103), the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) (1R01HD064685-01A1 and U54HD070725) and research grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 71473202). The U54 project (U54 HD070725) is funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health (OD). Dr Youfa Wang is the principle investigator of the projects. The content of the paper is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funders. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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N2 - System dynamics modelling (SDM) applications in health research began to appear in 1972 while agent-based modelling (ABM) applications first appeared in 1995, but their applications have increased dramatically over the last decade. This study examines the diffusion patterns of these two approaches and the main driving factors. We conducted a systematic analysis of 653 journal articles published from 1972 to 2014 that employed two approaches in health research and found that over the last few years, there has been a rapid increase of studies in using ABM compared with SDM, partly due to the launching of new journals and the application of ABM to a broad range of topics. The concentration of SDM studies in just a few journals may be adversely affecting its diffusion. The last decade saw acceleration in using ABM to investigate infectious diseases and cancer while SDM applications have predominantly focused on non-communicable diseases such as obesity.

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Investigating the Diffusion of Agent-based Modelling and System Dynamics Modelling in Population Health and Healthcare Research

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