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/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.

Impact of the ventral hernia working group’s publication: a bibliometric analysis

“…For example, these methods have been used to demonstrate the evolution of keywords related to Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols and the most influential authors, institutions and journals in the field over a period of 20 years [17]. Similar analyses have been performed on the topic of inguinal and ventral hernias to demonstrate the most influential authors and journals within the fields [7][8][9]18]. One such analysis recently identified the Ventral Hernia Working Group publication as the second most frequently cited paper on the topic of incisional hernias and found that "acellular dermal matrix" was one of the top 20 keyw ords with the strongest citation bursts after 2010 [8].…”