Dol Justine, Chambers Christine T, Parker Jennifer A, Tutelman Perri R, Cormier Brittany
IWK Health Centre for Pediatric Pain Research Halifax Canada.
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Dalhousie University Halifax Canada.
Paediatr Neonatal Pain. 2025 Aug 18;7(3):e70013. doi: 10.1002/pne2.70013. eCollection 2025 Sep.
Bibliometric reviews explore patterns in publications in a given research area by exploring trends over time and the contributions by citations, such as relationships between authors and publications. Despite "chronic pain" being the second most common keyword in pain research, no bibliometric reviews have focused on publication trends related to the prevalence of chronic pain in children and adolescents. A bibliometric analysis was conducted with articles included in a systematic review and meta-analysis on the prevalence of pediatric chronic pain to identify the recent trajectory of the field and guide future directions. Publication bibliometrics data from the articles were extracted and analyzed (e.g., gender of authors, citation counts, and countries) and was visualized in VOSViewer. Among 119 studies, the number of publications per year ranged from 4 (2023) to 11 (2014, 2021) with an average of 8/year. Articles were cited on average 36.6 times (SD = 51.7, range 0-380) with 5058 unique citations. There were 74 different journals represented, with most publishing only 1 article ( = 52, 70%). Seventy countries were represented in prevalence data, 78% from high-income countries; fifteen (21.4%) had only one data point, primarily from low- and lower-middle income countries. There were 109 different corresponding authors, with only 1 corresponding author who had more than 2 published articles. There was relative gender equity in terms of first and corresponding author. There was little to no collaboration between author groups identified. Despite a steady number of articles published over the 14-year period, the literature on the prevalence of pediatric chronic pain appears fragmented with articles published in a wide variety of journals. Prevalence data from low- and lower-middle-income countries were under-represented. Future work should focus on expanding evidence in underrepresented areas and greater collaboration among research groups to collect prevalence data in geographical areas where data gaps exist.
文献计量学综述通过研究给定研究领域出版物随时间的趋势以及被引频次的贡献（如作者与出版物之间的关系）来探索其中的模式。尽管“慢性疼痛”是疼痛研究中第二常见的关键词，但尚无文献计量学综述聚焦于儿童和青少年慢性疼痛患病率的相关出版趋势。我们对一篇关于儿童慢性疼痛患病率的系统评价和荟萃分析中纳入的文章进行了文献计量分析，以确定该领域的近期发展轨迹并指导未来方向。从这些文章中提取并分析了出版文献计量学数据（如作者性别、被引次数和国家），并在VOSviewer中进行了可视化展示。在119项研究中，每年的出版物数量从4篇（2023年）到11篇（2014年、2021年）不等，平均每年8篇。文章平均被引36.6次（标准差 = 51.7，范围0 - 380），共有5058次独特被引。涉及74种不同的期刊，其中大多数仅发表1篇文章（n = 52，70%）。患病率数据来自70个国家，78%来自高收入国家；15个国家（21.4%）仅有一个数据点，主要来自低收入和中低收入国家。有109位不同的通讯作者，只有1位通讯作者发表了2篇以上的文章。在第一作者和通讯作者方面，性别相对均衡。所识别的作者群体之间几乎没有合作。尽管在这14年期间发表的文章数量稳定，但关于儿童慢性疼痛患病率的文献似乎较为分散，文章发表在各种各样的期刊上。低收入和中低收入国家的患病率数据代表性不足。未来的工作应侧重于扩大在代表性不足领域的证据，并加强研究团队之间的合作，以在存在数据缺口的地理区域收集患病率数据。
