Evolution of Communities in the Medical Sciences: Evidence from the Medical Words Network.

Background: Classification of medical sciences into its sub-branches is crucial for optimum administration of healthcare and specialty training. Due to the rapid and continuous evolution of medical sciences, development of unbiased tools for monitoring the evolution of medical disciplines is required.

Methodology/principal Findings: Network analysis was used to explore how the medical sciences have evolved between 1980 and 2015 based on the shared words contained in more than 9 million PubMed abstracts.