Scoping Review and Bibliometric Analysis of the Most Influential Publications in Achalasia Research from 1995 to 2020

Abstract

Objective: To identify and evaluate characteristics of the most influential articles in achalasia research during the period 1995-2020.

Methods: Articles in Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC), and PubMed were scanned from 1995 to 2020 with achalasia as the keyword. We retrieved the articles that met all criteria by descending order after using EndNote to remove the duplicated references. Our bibliometric analysis highlighted publication year, country, journals, and networks of keywords.

Results: Fifteen percent of the top 100 most-cited articles were published in Annals of Surgery. They were performed in 15 countries, and most (n = 55) were from the USA. The number of citations of the 482 articles ranged from 30 to 953, 38 of which had been published in American Journal of Gastroenterology. Those articles were from 31 countries, and most of the studies (n = 217) had been performed in the USA. Most of articles (n = 335) were clinical research. Treatments were hotspots in the field of achalasia in the past years. The most influential title words were "achalasia," "esophagomyotomy," "pneumatic dilation," and "lower esophageal sphincter."

Conclusion: Our study offers a historical perspective on the progress of achalasia research and identified the most significant evolution in this field. Results showed treatment was the most influence aspect in achalasia.

Figure 1

Flowchart of study.

Figure 2

The percentage of articles about treatment in each year.

Figure 3

Distribution of top-100 cited articles per year.

Figure 4

Distribution of the 482 articles per year.

Figure 5

Network plot of influential keywords with five or more times in achalasia research among the 482 articles of Web of Science Core Collection: (a) overlay visualization and (b) density visualization.