Bibliometric Analysis of Research Trends on Acupuncture for Neck Pain Treatment Over the Past 20 Years

Global trends and performances of infrared imaging technology studies on acupuncture: a bibliometric analysis

Objectives

To summarize development processes and research hotspots of infrared imaging technology research on acupuncture and to provide new insights for researchers in future studies.

Methods

Publications regarding infrared imaging technology in acupuncture from 2008 to 2023 were downloaded from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). VOSviewer 1.6.19, CiteSpace 6.2.R4, Scimago Graphica, and Microsoft Excel software were used for bibliometric analyses. The main analyses include collaboration analyses between countries, institutions, authors, and journals, as well as analyses on keywords and references.

Results

A total of 346 publications were retrieved from 2008 to 2023. The quantity of yearly publications increased steadily, with some fluctuations over the past 15 years. "Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine" and "American Journal of Chinese Medicine" were the top-cited journals in frequency and centrality. China has the largest number of publications, with the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine being the most prolific institution. Among authors, Litscher Gerhard from Austria (currently Swiss University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Switzerland) in Europe, was the most published and most cited author. The article published by Rojas RF was the most discussed among the cited references. Common keywords included "Acupuncture," "Near infrared spectroscopy," and "Temperature," among others. Explore the relationship between acupoints and temperature through infrared thermography technology (IRT), evaluate pain objectively by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and explore acupuncture for functional connectivity between brain regions were the hotspots and frontier trends in this field.

Conclusion

This study is the first to use bibliometric methods to explore the hotspots and cutting-edge issues in the application of infrared imaging technology in the field of acupuncture. It offers a fresh perspective on infrared imaging technology research on acupuncture and gives scholars useful data to determine the field's hotspots, present state of affairs, and frontier trends.

The top 100 highly cited articles on neck pain: A bibliometric analysis

Objective

Neck pain has emerged as a significant public health concern. This study is to unveil the present state of neck pain research, thereby furnishing invaluable insights for prospective research endeavours and clinical applications.

Methods

The study was initiated by searching the Web of Science Core Collection database, focusing on "neck pain". From the amassed results, the top 100 most cited references were imported into CiteSpace and VOSviewer, enabling a rigorous bibliometric analysis. To ensure precision, synonymous terms conveying similar meanings were harmonized. The bibliometric study encompassed countries, research institutions, authors, journals, and keyword analysis.

Results

The investigation centered on a curated compilation of 100 articles, disseminated across a diverse array of 36 scholarly journals. These seminal articles originated from 24 distinct countries, reflecting contributions from a wide spectrum of 188 research institutions. Impressively, a collaborative effort involving 385 authors emerged. Noteworthy core research countries included the United States and Australia, with the University of Queensland and the University of Toronto asserting notable influence. Prolific authors such as J. David Cassidy and Pierre Cote garnered attention. Present research endeavours pivot around the incidence of neck pain, the identification of risk factors, the efficacy evaluation of treatment modalities, and a pronounced focus on high-quality randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews.

Conclusion

The study shines a light on key research countries, influential institutions, prominent authors, and prevalent trends, effectively contributing to comprehending the knowledge landscape and research dynamics in the field of neck pain.

Global research trends of sham acupuncture: A bibliometric analysis

OBJECTIVE

Sham acupuncture has been used as a control in acupuncture efficacy trials. However, questions have been raised about whether it is a physiologically inert placebo. We aimed to understand global research trends and provide guidance for future research by conducting a bibliometric analysis of sham acupuncture studies.

METHODS

Journal articles published to date related to sham acupuncture were retrieved from Web of Science on May 29, 2023. The publication year, country, keyword, author, and organization of the studies were analyzed using the available bibliometric information. Using VOSviewer software, the co-occurrence of keywords in sham acupuncture studies was visualized as a network map by cluster analysis and overlay analysis according to the publication year.

RESULTS

A total of 3428 studies were included in the analysis. Studies on sham acupuncture have been steadily increasing since 1991, with most of the studies conducted in China (1514 studies, 44.17%), followed by the United States (789 studies, 23.02%) and South Korea (277 studies, 8.08%). The keywords of sham acupuncture research were classified into four clusters: evidence synthesis, pain clinical research, mechanism research, and acupressure research. Keyword analysis according to the publication year showed that evidence synthesis on sham acupuncture was recently focused on psychiatric conditions including depression and insomnia through systematic reviews, and clinical and mechanism studies on sham acupuncture were mostly conducted relatively in the past.

CONCLUSION

This bibliometric analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the development and global trends of sham acupuncture research to date, suggesting directions for future research.

Research Trends on Acupuncture for Shoulder Pain Treatment Over the Past 15 Years: A Bibliometric Analysis

Objective

Currently, acupuncture for shoulder pain has been widely used in clinical and scientific research worldwide, but the bibliometric literature on acupuncture for shoulder pain is still scarce. This study reviews the application of acupuncture in the treatment of shoulder pain over the past 15 years, to analyze the current state of research, research hotspots, and trends. The article can also provide a reference for future research.

Methods

This paper searches the core collection of the Web of Science database for publications related to acupuncture therapy for shoulder pain between 2008 and 2022. And the data were visualized and analyzed using VOSviewer and CiteSpace for annual publications, countries, institutions, journals and co-cited journals, authors and co-cited authors, keywords, and emergent keywords.

Results

A total of 135 papers were included, with an overall increasing trend in the number of annual publications. The country with the highest centrality in publishing articles is the United States (0.28). In terms of research institutions, Kyung Hee University has the highest number of publications (18). In terms of authors, Lewith George, Lind Klaus, MacPherson Hugh, Sherman Karen J, and Vickers Andrew J are the five most published authors. Vickers, Andrew J. is the most co-cited author (50 times). In terms of journals, PAIN has the highest number of publications (82) and co-cited frequency (232), while the highest impact factor was BMJ-BRIT MED J (96.216). "Acupuncture" was the most frequently mentioned keyword (65 times), with the keyword "protocol" appearing the most recently. Emerging keywords that are still in vogue are "stroke", "systematic review" and "stimulation".

Conclusion

This study provides statistics on current research on the treatment of shoulder pain with acupuncture, which may be able to inform future research directions for all researchers and physicians, as well as facilitate closer communication and collaboration.

Thirty-year survey of bibliometrics used in the research literature of pain: Analysis, evolution, and pitfalls

During the last decades, the emergence of Bibliometrics and the progress in Pain research have led to a proliferation of bibliometric studies on the medical and scientific literature of pain (B/P). This study charts the evolution of the B/P literature published during the last 30 years. Using various searching techniques, 189 B/P studies published from 1993 to August 2022 were collected for analysis-half were published since 2018. Most of the selected B/P publications use classic bibliometric analysis of Pain in toto, while some focus on specific types of Pain with Headache/Migraine, Low Back Pain, Chronic Pain, and Cancer Pain dominating. Each study is characterized by the origin (geographical, economical, institutional, …) and the medical/scientific context over a specified time span to provide a detailed landscape of the Pain research literature. Some B/P studies have been developed to pinpoint difficulties in appropriately identifying the Pain literature or to highlight some general publishing pitfalls. Having observed that most of the recent B/P studies have integrated newly emergent software visualization tools (SVTs), we found an increase of anomalies and suggest that readers exercise caution when interpreting results in the B/P literature details.

Mapping the Hot Spots and Evolution Main Path of Whole-Body Vibration Training Since the 21st Century: A Bibliometric Analysis

To evaluate the global scientific output of the research on whole-body vibration training (WBVT) and explore the current status and trends in this field over the past decades using bibliometric methods, we retrieved the literature related to WBVT from 2000 to the present in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). We analyzed annual publications, citations, countries, organizations, productive authors, and source 14 journals by the Web of Science online bibliometric analysis. We visualized the WBVT research trends and explored influential organizations and authors through VOSviewer. Then, we constructed a citation chronology map by HistCite to obtain the knowledge base of this field and made a primary citation path analysis by Pajek. Finally, we mined the hot spots of WBVT by BICOMB and gCLUTO. Overall, there were 1,629 publications included in this study between 2000 and 2022. The United States contributed the most publications in this field, and the country with the most active partnership was Spain. The University of Cologne ranked highest among top productive organizations. Bernardo-Filho, Mario, from Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, ranked first among the top productive authors. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research topped the list of journals with the most publications on WBVT by a wide margin. The WBVT research field started from Rittweger’s study on the acute physiological effects of WBVT in 2000, which was divided into two stages. The first stage focused on improving athletic ability, and the second stage gradually turned to the application in medicine. A keyword analysis showed the exercise rehabilitation of several aging chronic diseases was the research trend and hot spot of WBVT. The current study provided a time-based development and a global network hub for WBVT research, contributing to identifying core target diseases of WBVT and providing various insights for researchers in the future.