title: What's Past is Prologue: A Scoping Review of Recent Public Health and Global Health Informatics Literature.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To categorize and describe the public health informatics (PHI) and global health informatics (GHI) literature between 2012 and 2014.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a semi-systematic review of articles published between January 2012 and September 2014 where information and communications technologies (ICT) was a primary subject of the study or a main component of the study methodology. Additional inclusion and exclusion criteria were used to filter PHI and GHI articles from the larger biomedical informatics domain. Articles were identified using MEDLINE as well as personal bibliographies from members of the American Medical Informatics Association PHI and GHI working groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 85 PHI articles and 282 GHI articles were identified. While systems in PHI continue to support surveillance activities, we identified a shift towards support for prevention, environmental health, and public health care services. Furthermore, articles from the U.S. reveal a shift towards PHI applications at state and local levels. GHI articles focused on telemedicine, mHealth and eHealth applications. The development of adequate infrastructure to support ICT remains a challenge, although we identified a small but growing set of articles that measure the impact of ICT on clinical outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is evidence of growth with respect to both implementation of information systems within the public health enterprise as well as a widening of scope within each informatics discipline. Yet the articles also illuminate the need for more primary research studies on what works and what does not as both searches yielded small numbers of primary, empirical articles.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While the body of knowledge around PHI and GHI continues to mature, additional studies of higher quality are needed to generate the robust evidence base needed to support continued investment in ICT by governmental health agencies.
authors.affiliation: Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN ; Regenstrief Institute, Inc., Indianapolis, IN ; Center for Health Information and Communication, Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Health Services Research and Development Service CIN 13-416, Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center, Indianapolis, IN.
authors.forename: Brian E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Dixon
authors.affiliation: RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC ; Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.
authors.forename: Jamie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pina
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD.
authors.forename: Hadi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kharrazi
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD.
authors.forename: Fardad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gharghabi
authors.affiliation: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.
authors.forename: Janise
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Richards