Global Research Trends in Shock Wave for Therapy from 1990 to 2019: A Bibliometric and Visualized Study

OBJECTIVE: The publications of application and development of shock wave therapy showed consistent growth. The aim of this study was to investigate the global status and trends in the shock wave therapy field. METHODS: Publications about shock wave therapy from 1990 to 2019 were collected from the Web of Science database. The data were studied and indexed by using bibliometric methodology. For a visualized study, VOSviewer software was used to conduct bibliographic coupling analysis, coauthorship analysis, cocitation analysis, and co-occurrence analysis and to analyze the publication trends in shock wave therapy. RESULTS: A total of 3,274 articles were included. The number of publications was increasing per year globally. The USA made the largest contributions to the global research with the most citations (the highest h-index). The Journal of Urology had the highest publication number. The University of California System was the most contributive institution. Studies could be divided into seven clusters: urology, hepatology, cardiology, orthopedics, mechanism research of shock wave therapy, andrology, and principle of shock wave therapy. Orthopedics, andrology, and mechanism research of shock wave therapy could be the next hot topics in this field. CONCLUSIONS: Base on the trends, shock wave therapy is the theme of a globally active research field which keeps developing and extends from bench to bedside.