The interplay between the nerves and skeleton: a 30-year bibliometric analysis

Hongxiang Mei; Yumeng Wu; Qingchen Feng; Xingjian Li; Jiawei Zhou; Fulin Jiang; Shishu Huang; Juan Li

doi:10.21037/atm-22-3323

The interplay between the nerves and skeleton: a 30-year bibliometric analysis

Ann Transl Med. 2023 Jan 15;11(1):9. doi: 10.21037/atm-22-3323. Epub 2023 Jan 12.

Authors

Hongxiang Mei¹, Yumeng Wu¹, Qingchen Feng¹, Xingjian Li¹, Jiawei Zhou¹, Fulin Jiang¹, Shishu Huang², Juan Li¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, National Center of Stomatology, National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
² Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Orthopedic Research Institute, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.

Abstract

Background: The mechanisms and effects of the interplay between the nerves and skeleton remain a popular research topic. This study aimed to analyze and evaluate publications on nerve-bone interactions using bibliometrics and to identify the state of the art of current research, hotspots, and future directions.

Methods: This study included 1989 articles and reviews from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) published from January 1, 1991, to June 22, 2022. The Bibliometrix package of R 4.2.0 (The R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria) was used to analyze basic information about the publications, including the annual number of publications, institution analysis, author influence analysis, journal analysis, and the national cooperation network. We also used CiteSpace 5.8.R3 for bibliometric analysis, including co-occurrence, co-citation, and cluster analysis.

Results: We discovered a significant increase in the number of articles on nerve-bone interactions published over the last 10 years. The most active country and institution were the United States and the University of Minnesota, respectively. In terms of journals and cocited journals, Bone was ranked highest with respect to the number of publications, while Journal of Bone and Mineral Research was ranked highest among cited journals. Wang Lei was the author with the most publications, and Bjurholm A was the most cited author. The analysis of references and keywords revealed that the impact of nerve- and neuromodulation-related factors on stem cell differentiation was a persistently hot topic. Osteoarthritis, neuropeptide Y, and osteoclastogenic process are likely to be the next era of research hotspots. The neurovascular crosstalk within bone has received great attention, especially in skeletal diseases, which may provide potential targets for future treatments.

Conclusions: We used a bibliometric method to provide an efficient, objective, and comprehensive assessment of existing research about the interplay between the skeletal and nervous systems and to accurately identify hotspots and research frontiers, providing valuable information for future research.

Keywords: Skeleton; Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC); bibliometric analysis; knowledge map; nerve.