Investigating the Links Between Funding, Scholarly Production, and Public Health Determinants in IoMT Research

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) represents a transformative technology that connects medical devices, sensors, and healthcare systems to enable real-time monitoring, data sharing, and advanced decision-making in healthcare. While the technical and clinical potential of IoMT has been researched extensively, the scale and scope of research funding and their influence on research literature production patterns and country health determinants remain unknown. The study presented in this paper covers this gap by employing triangulation of quantitative and qualitative approaches. The results reveal a positive trend IoMT in research literature production. The funded research exhibits higher publication rates in high-impact journals but, unlike in many other research fields, is not regionally concentrated in countries with stronger healthcare systems and higher R&D expenditures, showing that IOMT can increasingly contribute to improving healthcare systems and outcomes even with the least investments. Thematic analysis shows that both funded and non-funded are associated with similar themes; however, founded research is more focused on recent research trends like artificial intelligence applications in healthcare. Finally, our study revealed the positive association between the number of funded papers and health determinants, suggesting that IoMT research funding might contribute to improved healthcare delivery.