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. 2022 Mar 2:10:746591.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.746591. eCollection 2022.

International Publication Trends in Low Back Pain Research: A Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis

Fan Huang  1 , Beisi Zheng  2 , Cunshu Wu  2 , Siyi Zhao  1 , Yuanyue Xu  2 , Ziyuan Li  2 , Chuyu Huang  1 , Zhiyong Fan  1 , Shan Wu  1
Affiliations

International Publication Trends in Low Back Pain Research: A Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis

Fan Huang et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Although there is a growing research base on low back pain, the bibliometric literature related to it is deficient. The aim of this study was to conduct a bibliometric and visualization analysis of low back pain and to provide a broad view of the current trends in LBP research and a potential guide in this discipline.

Methods: The authors searched the Web of Science to extract publications regarding low back pain, and found a total of 12,249 publications during a period of 22 years, among which 12,242 were eligible. We classified and analyzed publications such as total citations, average citations per item, H-index, research types, countries/regions, institutions, and journals using standard bibliometric indicators. Bibliometric approaches (VOSviewer1.6.13 and CiteSpace 5.8.3) were also available for gathering information and explore the trends of research.

Results: Conspicuously, over the past 22 years, an increasing number of scholars have specialized in the research of LBP, exerting the boom in articles. The largest number of document type was that of articles. Under modern conditions, regional distinction existed in the research of low back pain and developed countries preceded others. Research individuals and institutions were preoccupied by respective aspects. Visualization analysis provided objective information for potential collaborators and cooperative institutions. Furthermore, most burst keywords varied during different periods.

Conclusions: The map of research on LBP obtained by our analysis is expected to help researchers to efficiently and effectively explore LBP.

Keywords: bibliometric analysis; low back pain; publications; trend; visualization.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of selection processes for eligible studies.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Treemap chart of document types.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Number of publications per year and growth trend for low back pain (LBP).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Articles in the world related to LBP. (A) Distribution of LBP publications. (B) Number of publications, total local citation score (number of citations of country or region publications in Web of Science), and H-index among top 10 productive countries.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(A) Treemap chart of authors. (B) Treemap chart of institutions.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Cluster of the areas of research.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Collaboration of authors, institutions, and countries/regions for LBP research. The thickness of the link between any two authors, institutions, and countries/regions is indicative of the extent of co-authorship, and the colors of the circles indicate groups of authors, institutions, and countries/regions with a high degree of collaboration. (A) Network map of authors. (B) Network map of institutions. (C) International collaboration between countries/regions.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Keywords for LBP research. (A) Top 25 keywords with strongest citation bursts of publications on LBP research from 2000 to 2011. (B) Top 25 keywords with strongest citation bursts from 2012 to 2022. (C) Network map of keywords from 2000 to 2011. (D) Network map of keywords from 2012 to 2022.
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