Research hotspots and trends in retinopathy of prematurity from 2003 to 2022: a bibliometric analysis

BACKGROUND: In order to understand the research hotspots and trends in the field of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), our study analyzed the relevant publications from 2003 to 2022 by using bibliometric analysis. METHODS: The Citespace 6.2.R3 system was used to analyze the publications collected from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database. RESULTS: In total, 4,957 publications were included in this study. From 2003 to 2022, the number of publications gradually increased and peaked in 2022. The United States was the country with the most publications, while Harvard University was the most productive institution. The top co-cited journal PEDIATRICS is published by the United States. Author analysis showed that Hellström A was the author with the most publications, while Good WV was the top co-cited author. The co-citation analysis of references showed seven major clusters: genetic polymorphism, neurodevelopmental outcome, threshold retinopathy, oxygen-induced retinopathy, low birth weight infant, prematurity diagnosis cluster and artificial intelligence (AI). For the citation burst analysis, there remained seven keywords in their burst phases until 2022, including ranibizumab, validation, trends, type 1 retinopathy, preterm, deep learning and artificial intelligence. CONCLUSION: Intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy and AI-assisted clinical decision-making were two major topics of ROP research, which may still be the research trends in the coming years.