Introduction and hypothesis: The study was aimed at systematically analyzing the research status and trends of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) using bibliometrics.
Methods: We retrieved documents published between 1975 and 2022 from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database, and manually selected them for bibliometric analyses of country, institution, journal, highly locally cited documents and research trends based on co-citation clustering and keywords using the R Bibliometricx package and CiteSpace software.
Results: A total of 5,703 publications were included. Although the number of annual publications on POP increased, the trend of annual publication reached an obvious plateau in the first half of the 2010s. The USA, China, the UK, the University of Michigan, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Sydney were the top three countries and institutions with the most publications respectively. International Urogynecology Journal, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Obstetrics and Gynecology were the journals with the most extensive academic influence on the field of POP research. The international cooperation was lacking and the highly cited documents focused on high-level, evidence-based studies. Epidemiological studies and surgical treatment have achieved a plateau or decline. Recent studies have focused on conservative treatment, physical therapy, and minimally invasive surgery. In addition to evidence-based medicine studies, tissue engineering is the future direction of POP.
Conclusions: This study used bibliometric analyses to provide insights into the status and potential research directions of POP. More high-quality, evidence-based medicine studies and in-depth tissue engineering research should be propelled forward.
Keywords: Bibliometric analysis; Pelvic organ prolapse; Research directions; Trends.
© 2024. The International Urogynecological Association.