Journal of Pain Research (Dec 2022)
Knowledge Mapping of International Research on Acupuncture for Chronic Pain: A Bibliometric Analysis
Abstract
Hongguan Jiao,1 Ran Ding,2 Pukai Jin,3 Junwen Wang,4 Jun Xu,5 Weiyi Tian6 1School of Information Engineering, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Health Preservation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Radiology, Inova Mount Vernon Hospital, Alexandria, VA, USA; 4Institute of Basic Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 5Information Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 6School of Basic Medicine, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Hongguan Jiao, School of Information Engineering, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-18886094606, Fax +86-851-88233048, Email [email protected]: With the wide acceptance of acupuncture, many papers and guidelines recommend that acupuncture is effective for chronic pain (CP). In this study, we applied bibliometric methods to analyze the current research situation of acupuncture intervention in CP, to gain insight into the current situation and future development trend of this field.Material and Methods: Science Citation Index Expanded was searched for publications related to acupuncture for CP between 1900 and 2022. VOSviewer, CiteSpace and Thomson Data Analyzer were used to analyze the annual publication, authors and cited authors and their countries (regions) and institutions, journals and cited journals, cited references, co-occurrence keywords, burst keywords, and the relevant centrality.Results: A total of 1968 papers were retrieved, the annual publications have shown a rapid growth trend in the recent 20 years. The USA (708) and the Kyung Hee University (31) were the most productive country and institution, respectively, while the USA (0.37) and University of Maryland (0.13) had the highest centrality. MacPherson, Hugh published the most papers in this field (29), and Vickers, A J were the most influential author (289 times cited). Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine was the most productive journal (92), whereas PAIN was the most influential one (4743 times cited). Breivik, H’s (2006) paper had the most citation count (3025), while Furlan’s (2005) paper had the highest centrality (0.23). The research focuses in this field mainly include pain, electroacupuncture, Low back pain, Systematic review, Randomized controlled trial etc. Researchers are currently paying more attention to the psychological problems caused by CP.Conclusion: The research of acupuncture for CP will be further expanded. International cooperation of this research field needs to be further strengthened. More high-quality designed trials need to be conducted.Keywords: chronic pain, acupuncture, bibliometric analysis, VOSviewer, CiteSpace
