ArticlePreventive medicine reports2025
Global trends of positive deviance research in public health: A bibliometric analysis (1976-2024).
Article in Preventive medicine reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: The positive deviance approach is a community-based strategy that promotes behavioral and social change to improve health outcomes and demonstrates effectiveness even in resource-limited settings. Although the number of scientific studies on positive deviance has increased, comprehensive quantitative assessments of its overall trends remain lacking. This study conducted a bibliometric analysis to analyze global trends and key themes in positive deviance research within public health over the past 50 years (1976-2024). Methods: We used data from Scopus and Web of Science, examining publications including the term "positive devian*" alongside "public health" or "community health." The analysis covered articles and reviews published from 1976 to 2024. Additionally, we conducted descriptive analysis, network analysis, and thematic mapping. Results: We identified 319 publications in 219 journals in the studied period. Contributions were made from 45 countries, including 25 low- or middle-income countries (55.6 %). Notably, 106 papers (33.2 %) and 30 countries (66.7 %) involved international collaboration, with the United States leading in both productivity and collaboration. Thematic mapping indicated that high-income countries prioritized motor themes (well-developed, relevant thematic areas) such as "obesity" and "resilience" and emerging themes like "quality improvement" and "primary care." Conversely, lower-income countries focused on motor themes like "stunting" and "wasting" and emerging themes like "qualitative" research and "malaria." Conclusions: There is a rising global interest in positive deviance, as evidenced by increasing publication volume, participation from lower-income countries, and strengthened international collaborations. Focusing on underexplored themes could help shape the direction of future positive deviance research in public health.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.