Bibliometric Analysis of Postgraduate Studies on Telerehabilitation in Turkey
Keywords:
Telerehabilitation, bibliometric analysis, digital health, physiotherapy.Abstract
Purpose: Telerehabilitation is a contemporary approach that enables the remote delivery of rehabilitation services through telecommunication technologies. The aim of this study is to examine postgraduate theses on telerehabilitation in Türkiye using bibliometric methods in order to reveal the temporal development of academic production, its distribution across graduate levels, and disciplinary concentrations. Based on data obtained from the Yükseköğretim Kurulu National Thesis Center (YÖKTEZ), this study represents the first comprehensive bibliometric analysis of telerehabilitation increase in academic output, particularly after 2021. theses in Türkiye and makes an original contribution by systematically documenting the marked
Methods: A total of 125 postgraduate theses on telerehabilitation, uploaded to the National Thesis Center of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) until October 2025, were included in the study. The theses were analyzed according to year, university, institute, department, type, and application area using descriptive statistical analysis methods.
Results: It was determined that telerehabilitation-themed theses first appeared in 2017, with 98.4% completed in 2021 and thereafter. Among these, 51% were master’s theses, 44% doctoral dissertations, and 5% medical specialization theses. The majority of studies were conducted within Health Sciences Institutes (67.2%) and primarily in the Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation (80.8%). The most frequently studied clinical topics included the Covid-19 pandemic (9.6%), multiple sclerosis (8.8%), low back pain (5.6%), Parkinson’s disease (5.6%), and fibromyalgia (4.0%).
Conclusions: This study demonstrates that telerehabilitation has rapidly become a growing area of academic interest in Türkiye, particularly following the Covid-19 pandemic. Findings indicate that telerehabilitation is an effective and adaptable rehabilitation method not only during infectious disease periods but also for managing chronic, neurological, and orthopedic conditions. Increasing the number of randomized controlled trials and conducting meta-analyses in this field will contribute to strengthening the evidence base and facilitating the integration of telerehabilitation into healthcare systems.
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