Global Trends and Performances of Acupuncture Therapy on Bell's Palsy from 2000 to 2023: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Purpose: Recent studies have shown that acupuncture may have great potential in the treatment of Bell's palsy. However, the bibliometric analysis of this field has not been summarized properly. Thus, the purpose of this study is to analyze the hotspot of acupuncture for Bell's Palsy.

Methods: The core collection database of Web of Science was searched for relevant publications from 2000 to 2023, and countries, institutions, authors, keywords, and literature were analyzed and visualized by bibliometric softwareCiteSpace 5.1.R6, Vosviewer, BICOMB, and gCLUTO to explore the scientific achievements, research collaboration networks, research hot spots, and research trends.

Results: 229 publications were included in this study. The most cited journal is Journal of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery; the most prolific country is China; the most prolific author is Li Ying, moreover, the collaboration among scholars is poor; Kyung Hee University is the most prolific institution studying acupuncture for Bell's Palsy. Reference burst detection indicates that traditional Chinese Medicine philosophy, the role of acupuncture in the prognosis of facial palsy, mechanism of acupuncture to improve facial nerve function, and the use of electroacupuncture are starting to become new research hotspots.

Conclusion: The field of acupuncture for Bell's Palsy has developed rapidly in recent years, and new research trends are mainly: combination with traditional Chinese medicine, the role of acupuncture in the prognosis of facial palsy, mechanism of acupuncture to improve facial nerve function, and the use of electroacupuncture. However, research in this field is still dominated by case reports and clinical trials, and there is a lack of large-scale, multicenter clinical trials and animal experiments there are still many problems in institutional cooperation and experimental design, which requires relevant researchers to strengthen cooperation and improve experimental design.

Keywords: Bell’s palsy; CiteSpace; Vosviewer; acupuncture; bibliometric analysis.

Figure 1

Flowchart depicting the article selection process.

Figure 2

Annual publications of acupuncture for Bell’s Palsy.

Figure 3

The network visualization map of journal co-citation analysis by CiteSpace. The larger circle in the graph means that the journal corresponding to that circle has been cited more often and has more influence in the field of acupuncture for Bell’s Palsy.

Figure 4

Dual-map overlay of journals related to Acupuncture for Bell’s Palsy. The left side of the dual map is citing journals while the right side is cited journals, and the line in the middle indicates the association between them.

Figure 5

(A) Visualization map of countries involved in Acupuncture Therapy for Bell’s Palsy (Vosviewer). (B) The distribution of publications by country. (C) Geographical distribution of acupuncture for Bell’s Palsy. The lines with the same color in the figure represent the closeness of the cooperative relationship between the connected countries, while the size of the circles indicates the magnitude of the country’s influence. (D) Cooperation network of prolific countries/regions.

Figure 6

Network map showing the relations between various institutions (A) and the authors (B).

Figure 7

(A) Visualization graph of keywords of acupuncture for Bell’s Palsy (CiteSpace). (B) Matrix visualization of biclustering analysis results of high-frequency keywords about acupuncture for Bell’s Palsy. (C) Mountain visualization of biclustering analysis results of high-frequency keywords about acupuncture for Bell’s Palsy. The clustering results were mainly shown in the visual hill map with different heights and colors, and the height of the hill was proportional to the average similarity of the clusters, the greater the similarity, the steeper the hill. The color of the top of the hill represents the standard deviation of the cluster, where red is low and blue is high, the redder the top of the hill is, the more concentrated the study content is within the cluster.

Figure 8

(A) A timeline view of acupuncture for Bell’s Palsy. In the reference timeline profile, the later the timeline of each cluster appears, the more likely the cluster is to become a new research hotspot. (B) Reference with the strongest citation bursts of Acupuncture in Bell’s Palsy.