Publication performance and trends in temporomandibular disorders research: A bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Background: Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are common, can be both painful and non-painful, and encompass various conditions affecting the temporomandibular joint, the masticatory muscles or both TMD. Therefore, the purpose of this bibliometric analysis was to synthetically analyze citation performance in TMD, to address a more innovative method including details of article title, author keyword, KeyWords Plus, and abstracts.

Material and methods: Data used in this study were retrieved from the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science Core Collection, the online version of the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) between 1992 and 2021. The distribution of key words in the article title and author‑selected keywords were used to evaluate research trends.

Results: Of the 7,228 documents in SCI-EXPANDED, 6,138 documents met all inclusion criteria and were included in the final analysis, of which 4,945 were articles. The present bibliometric analysis of the articles published in the research filed of TMD revealed that orofacial pain, bruxism, chronic pain, and myofascial pain are the most commonly used keywords by the authors. Further, over the last 30 years 4,945 articles are published in the field of TMD, and the far most frequently cited study was published 8 years ago and handles the diagnostic criteria of TMD. The USA and Brazil were top two ranking productive countries of publication on TMD. The most productive journal was Journal of Oral Rehabilitation, followed by Cranio-The Journal of Craniomandibular & Sleep Practice and Journal of Oral & Facial Pain and Headache. The most productive authors were P. Svensson, R. Ohrbach, and F. Lobbezooas. The most productive institutes were Sao Paulo University (Brazil), Malmo University (Sweden), and Washington university (USA) CONCLUSION: Based on the outcome of this bibliometric study, the authors hope that both clinicians and researchers will have information to shape their future research focus, finding prominent institutions in their nearby area, or even to be stimulated to initiate new international or even multinational collaborations.

Keywords: Bibliometrics; Diagnostic criteria; Disc displacement; Myalgia; Temporomandibular disorders.