The publication trends and hot spots of scoliosis research from 2009 to 2018: a 10-year bibliometric analysis.

BACKGROUND

This study aims to quantitatively and qualitatively investigate the trends in scoliosis research and evaluate research hotspots using bibliometric analysis.

METHODS

All relevant publications on scoliosis from the period from 2009 to 2018 were extracted from the Web of Science and PubMed databases. Publication trends were analyzed using an Online analysis platform of literature metrology, Bibliographic Item Co-occurrence Matrix Builder (BICOMB), and CiteSpace software. Hotspots were analyzed and visualized using the gCLUTO software package.

RESULTS

A total of 7,445 scoliosis research publications dated between 2009 and 2018 were found. The spine was the most popular journal in this field during this period. The United States maintained a top position in global scoliosis research throughout the 10 years and has had a pivotal influence, followed by China and Canada. Among all institutions, the University of California, San Francisco, was a leader in research collaboration. At the same time, Professors Yong Qiu and Lawrence G. Lenke made great achievements in scoliosis research. We analyzed the major Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms/MeSH subheadings and identified eight hotspots in scoliosis research.

CONCLUSIONS

We summarized the publication information of scoliosis-related literature in the 10 years from 2009 to 2018, including country and institution of origin, authors, and publication journal. We analyzed former research hotspots in the field of scoliosis and predicted future areas of interest. The development of various new orthopedic plants, artificial intelligence diagnosis, and genetic research will be future hotspots in scoliosis research.