Global Research Trends in Shock Wave for Therapy from 1990 to 2019: A Bibliometric and Visualized Study

Abstract

Objective: The publications of application and development of shock wave therapy showed consistent growth. The aim of this study was to investigate the global status and trends in the shock wave therapy field.

Methods: Publications about shock wave therapy from 1990 to 2019 were collected from the Web of Science database. The data were studied and indexed by using bibliometric methodology. For a visualized study, VOSviewer software was used to conduct bibliographic coupling analysis, coauthorship analysis, cocitation analysis, and co-occurrence analysis and to analyze the publication trends in shock wave therapy.

Results: A total of 3,274 articles were included. The number of publications was increasing per year globally. The USA made the largest contributions to the global research with the most citations (the highest h-index). The Journal of Urology had the highest publication number. The University of California System was the most contributive institution. Studies could be divided into seven clusters: urology, hepatology, cardiology, orthopedics, mechanism research of shock wave therapy, andrology, and principle of shock wave therapy. Orthopedics, andrology, and mechanism research of shock wave therapy could be the next hot topics in this field.

Conclusions: Base on the trends, shock wave therapy is the theme of a globally active research field which keeps developing and extends from bench to bedside.

Figure 1

Flowchart of the article selection process used in the study.

Figure 2

Global trends and countries contributing to shock wave therapy. (a) The single-year publication numbers in the past 33 years related to shock wave therapy. (b) The sum of shock wave therapy research-related articles from the top 20 countries. (c) World map showing the distribution of shock wave therapy research.

Figure 3

Citation frequency and h-index levels of different countries. (a) The total citations for shock wave therapy articles from different countries. (b) The h-index of publications in the different countries.

Figure 4

High-contribution journals, research orientations, high-impact institutions, authors, and funds of global research about shock wave therapy: (a) the top-20 research journals in the world; (b) the sum of research orientations in the world; (c) the high-impact authors in the world; (d) the high-impact institutions in the world; (e) the major contribution funds in the world.

Figure 5

Bibliographic coupling analysis of global research about shock wave therapy. (a) Mapping of the 142 identified journals on shock wave therapy. (b) Mapping of the 292 institutions on shock wave therapy. (c) Mapping of the 50 countries on shock wave therapy. The line between two points in the figure represents that two journals/institutions/countries had established a similarity relationship. The thicker the line, the closer the link between the two journals/institutions/countries.

Figure 6

Coauthorship analysis of research about shock wave therapy. (a) Mapping of the coauthorship analysis of 62 authors on shock wave therapy. (b) Mapping of the coauthorship analysis of 273 institutions on shock wave therapy. (c) Mapping of the coauthorship analysis of 50 countries on shock wave therapy. The size of the points represents the coauthorship frequency. The line between two points in the figure represents that two authors/institutions/countries had established collaboration. The thicker the line, the closer the collaboration between the two authors/institutions/countries.

Figure 7

Mapping of cocitation related to shock wave therapy. (a) Mapping of cocited references related to the field. (The 498 points with different colors represent the 435 cited references. The size of the points represents the citation frequency. A line between two points means that both were cited in one paper. A shorter line indicates a closer link between two papers. Points in the same color belong to the same research direction.) (b) Mapping of cocited journals related to the field. (The 825 points with different colors represent the 825 identified journals. The size of the points represents the citation frequency. A line between two points means that both were cited in one journal. A shorter line indicates a closer link between two journals. Points in the same color belong to the same research direction).

Figure 8

Co-occurrence analysis of global research about shock wave therapy. (a) Mapping of keywords in the research on shock wave therapy—the size of the points represents the frequency, and the keywords are divided into 7 clusters: “urology,” “hepatology,” “cardiology,” “orthopedics,” “mechanism research of shock wave therapy,” “andrology,” and “principle of shock wave therapy.” (b) Distribution of keywords according to the mean frequency of appearance—keywords in purple appeared earlier than those in green and yellow-colored keywords appeared later.