Bibliometric Analysis of Research Trends on Acupuncture for Neck Pain Treatment Over the Past 20 Years

• Published in: Journal of pain research Vol. 14; pp. 3207 - 3221
• Main Authors: Park, Jaehyeon, Kim, Hyungsuk, Kim, Koh-Woon, Cho, Jae-Heung, Chung, Won-Seok, Song, Mi-Yeon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Macclesfield Dove Medical Press Limited 01-01-2021; Taylor & Francis Ltd; Dove; Dove Medical Press
• Subjects: Acupuncture; Alternative medicine; Analysis; bibliometric analysis; Bibliometrics; Cancer therapies; Care and treatment; cervical pain; Chinese medicine; Electroacupuncture; Evidence-based medicine; Hospitals; Keywords; Medical colleges; Movement disorders; Neck pain; network analysis; Online databases; Pain; Quality of life; Review; Trends; United Kingdom; South Korea; China; England; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Germany; Taiwan
• ISSN: 1178-7090; 1178-7090
• DOI: 10.2147/JPR.S331514

A bibliometric approach using network analytical methods was applied to explore the research trends on acupuncture for neck pain treatment. Publications related to acupuncture for neck pain treatment from 2000 to 2020 were retrieved from the Web of Science database. The extracted records were analyzed in terms of publication year, research area, journal title, country, organization, authors, and keywords. The research trends on acupuncture for neck pain treatment were visualized using the VOSviewer program. Analyses of 325 articles revealed that the total number of publications has continually increased over the last 20 years. The most represented research area was integrative complementary medicine. The country producing the most articles was the US, followed by China, England, and the Republic of Korea. By assessing the total link strength of organizations and authors, we identified influential organizations and authors who have contributed to research on acupuncture for neck pain treatment. A network analysis based on the cooccurrence of keywords revealed the following two major study designs: clinical study and research methodology. This study examined the research trends on acupuncture for neck pain treatment using bibliometric methods. Our findings provide useful guidelines for researchers in searching for relevant topics.