Emerging trends and frontier research on recurrent implantation failure: a bibliometric analysis

Caiyun Wang; Defeng Guan; Zhihong Li; Yongxiu Yang; Kehu Yang

doi:10.21037/atm-22-703

Emerging trends and frontier research on recurrent implantation failure: a bibliometric analysis

Ann Transl Med. 2022 Mar;10(6):307. doi: 10.21037/atm-22-703.

Authors

Caiyun Wang^#^{1

2

3

4}, Defeng Guan^#⁵, Zhihong Li^#^{3

6}, Yongxiu Yang^{1

2}, Kehu Yang^{1

3

4

6}

Affiliations

¹ The First Clinical Medical College of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
² Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
³ Evidence-Based Medicine Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Evidence Based Medicine and Knowledge Translation of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, China.
⁵ Reproductive Medicine Center of The First Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
⁶ Evidence Based Social Science Research Center, School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Recurrent implantation failure (RIF) has been recognized to be a major obstacle to the successful application of artificial reproduction technologies. In this study, the trends in RIF research were examined through a bibliometric analysis evaluating relevant literature quantitatively and qualitatively.

Methods: A total of 1,764 publications from 2000 to 2020 were downloaded from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). Relevant articles were searched using the term "recurrent implantation failure" and other synonyms of this term. Using Excel 2013, CiteSpace V, and VOSviewer 1.6.10 software, data extracted from the literature, including countries/regions, institutions, journals, keywords, and trends, were analyzed. Next, a clustered network was constructed based on 46,718 references cited by the 1,764 publications to determine the top 10 cocited articles.

Results: The annual number of publications on RIF progressively increased over time. The highest number of publications were from the United States. Analysis of the cocited reference cluster showed that "endometrial injury", "platelet-rich plasma", "chronic endometritis" and "extracellular vesicles" were the hotspots in RIF research. Burst detection analysis of the top keywords showed that "hysteroscopy" and "improvement" are emerging research foci.

Conclusions: This study clarifies the current research status and evolution of research in the field of RIF. New therapeutic interventions designed to improve pregnancy outcomes are the focus of current research and are expected to dominate future research in the field of RIF.

Keywords: Recurrent implantation failure (RIF); burst detection; cocitation analysis; emerging trends; research foci.