International Publication Trends in Low Back Pain Research: A Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis

Abstract

Background Despite the increasing research on low back pain, the bibliometric literature in the field of low back pain is limited. The aim of this study was to perform a bibliometric and visualization analysis of low back pain. Methods The authors searched the Web of Science database to extract publications regarding low back pain in the last 22 years. A total of 12,201 publications were eligible. We classified and analyzed publications such as total citations, average citations per item, H-index, research types, countries/regions, institutions and journals by using standard bibliometric indicators. Bibliometric methods and tools were used to explore the trends of low back pain research. Results Over the past 22 years, the number of publications on low back pain in the world had continually remained a increasing trend. Regional differences existed in the research of low back pain and developed countries played a leading role in the research. Research institutions and researchers have successively invested in the research of low back pain. However, there were limitations to the present study that should be noted that the study was relatively scattered and a systematic summary of the trends and characteristics was lacking. Visualization analysis provides valuable information for researchers to identify new perspectives on potential collaborators and cooperative institutions, which promote indirect cooperation. Besides, the most burst keywords were “primary-care”, “lumbar spine” and “disability”. Conclusion This study provided a number of important insights into the global research trends and current status related to low back pain which is helpful for clinicians, researchers and policy makers to understand the research field and predict its dynamic directions. Our article could be used for quantify and academic publications about low back pain in order to obtain an overview of the given field of study and provide references and suggestions for the future work of low back pain.