Evolution of Inguinal Hernia Publications: A Bibliometric Analysis from 1980 to 2021

Abstract

BACKGROUND Despite the increasing number of studies published worldwide focusing on inguinal hernia, a major condition in the surgical field that affects the quality of life of many patients, a bibliometric study on inguinal hernia is yet to be conducted. The present study aimed to analyze the scientific articles published on inguinal hernia using statistical methods. MATERIAL AND METHODS Articles published between 1980 and 2021 on inguinal hernia were downloaded from the Web of Science database and analyzed using statistical methods. RESULTS A total of 11 761 publications were found. The top 5 contributors to the literature were the United States (n=2109, 27%), Germany (563, 6.7%), United Kingdom (595, 5.7%), Turkey (415, 5.3%), and Japan (388, 4.9%). The top 3 most influential journals by average number of citations per article were Annals of Surgery (citations: 67.4), British Journal of Surgery (citations: 49.9), and Surgical Clinics of North America (citations: 43.2). CONCLUSIONS In the current comprehensive bibliometric study on inguinal hernia, which has demonstrated an upward trend in the number of articles published recently, we present a summary of 7810 articles published from 1980 to 2021. According to the results of the analysis conducted to identify trending topics, the keywords studied in recent years are believed to include pediatric, outcomes, minimally invasive surgery, robotic, incisional hernia, umbilical hernia, chronic pain, obesity, bariatric surgery, NSQIP, seroma, surgical site infection, abdominal wall reconstruction, ventral hernia repair, and hiatal hernia repair.

Figure 1

Distribution of articles published on inguinal hernia by year and estimates of the number of articles for the next 5 years. Created by Microsoft Office Excel (Office 365) package program (licensed to Hitit University, 2022).

Figure 2

Global productivity world maps showing the distribution of published articles on inguinal hernia by country. Created by open-source world map on the https://app.datawrapper.de.

Figure 3

(A) Network visualization map of cluster analysis showing cooperation between countries on inguinal hernia. Colors indicate clustering. The size of the circle indicates the large number of articles. The larger the size of the circle, the more articles the country publishes. Created by VOSviewer (version 1.6.16, Leiden University’s Center for Science and Technology Studies). (B) Density map showing the intensity of international cooperation of countries on inguinal hernia. The strength of international collaboration score increases from blue to red (blue-green-yellow-red). Created by VOSviewer (version 1.6.16, Leiden University’s Center for Science and Technology Studies).

Figure 4

Network visualization map for analysis of citations per article of active journals that publish the most articles on inguinal hernia. The size of the circle indicates the large number of articles. The average number of citations per article by journals increases from blue to red (blue-green-yellow-red). Created by VOSviewer (version 1.6.16, Leiden University’s Center for Science and Technology Studies).

Figure 5

Network visualization map for cluster analysis based on keyword analysis performed to identify clustering of inguinal hernia subjects. Colors indicate clustering. Keywords in the same cluster are of the same color. The size of the circle indicates the number of uses of the keyword. Created by VOSviewer (Version 1.6.16, Leiden University’s Center for Science and Technology Studies).

Figure 6

Network visualization map based on keyword analysis to identify past and current trends in inguinal hernia. In the indicator given in the lower right corner of the figure, the topicality of the article increases from blue to red (blue-green-yellow-red). The size of the circle indicates the number of uses of the keyword. Created by VOSviewer (Version 1.6.16, Leiden University’s Center for Science and Technology Studies).

Figure 7

Network visualization map based on keyword analysis performed to identify the most cited topics in inguinal hernia. In the indicator given in the lower right corner of the figure, the number of citations received by the topic increases from blue to red Created by VOSviewer (version 1.6.16, Leiden University’s Center for Science and Technology Studies) (blue-green-yellow-red). The size of the circle indicates the number of uses of the keyword.