Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment (Mar 2023)
Research Hotspots and Global Trends of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Stroke: A Bibliometric Analysis
Abstract
Kebing Zhou,1,* Yu Zhou,2,* Yuena Zeng,1,* Jiahui Zhang,1 Xiaoyan Cai,1 Jieying Qin,1 Zhiying Li,1 Fengxia Yan1 1School of Nursing, Jinan University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Rehabilitation, the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Fengxia Yan; Jiahui Zhang, School of Nursing, Jinan University, 601 Huangpu Avenue West, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510632, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-20-85225836, Fax +86-20-8522227, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Transcranial direct current stimulation has been widely used in the clinical treatment of stroke. The purpose of this study was to perform a bibliometric analysis of scientific literature in this field.Methods: Articles and reviews regarding transcranial direct current stimulation in stroke from January 01, 2004 to May 31, 2022 were identified from the Science Citation Index-Expanded of the Web of Science Core Collection database. CiteSpace 6.1.R2, Bibliometrix and the Bibliometric Online Analysis Platform were used to analyze data.Results: A total of 905 papers were obtained, with the highest number of publications coming from the USA. The institutions and authors with the most publications were Harvard Medical School and Fregni F respectively. Nitsche MA had the most co-citations, followed by Fregni F. Neurosciences was the most fruitful research area and Brain Stimulation had the highest H-index. The research topics could be divided into three sections: mechanisms of treatment, comparison of efficacy with transcranial magnetic stimulation, clinical application of post-stroke dysfunction. The field of “walking”, “strength” and “virtual reality therapy” are the future research hotspots of transcranial direct current stimulation.Conclusion: The overall research showed a slow growth trend, and the outstanding contribution of the USA in this field cannot be ignored. Relevant researchers are suggested to focus on international collaboration and actively conduct high-quality randomized controlled clinical trials on research hotspots and frontiers in order to identify the optimal stimulation paradigm for clinical purposes.Keywords: stroke, transcranial direct current stimulation, bibliometric analysis, hotspots, frontier
