Bibliometric analysis of China’s contribution to the knowledge system of cerebrovascular intervention

BACKGROUND: Cerebrovascular disease has become the leading cause of death in China. The purpose of this article is to analyze China’s contribution to the interventional treatment of cerebrovascular diseases. METHODS: Bibliometric analysis was used for evaluating the quantity, quality, research hotspots, and cooperation network of publications regarding interventional treatment of cerebrovascular diseases from China. These articles were searched from the database of Web of Science Core Collection. The authors, publication years, citation times, regions, and source journals of retrieved articles were recorded. Network analysis and visualization were performed on Citespace5.6. RESULTS: From 1991 to 2019, a total of 5052 articles regarding cerebrovascular intervention were contributed by Chinese researchers. The number of publications from China grew fastest annually in the latest 5 years among countries. These publications were cited 61,216 times, with 12.12 average citations per item. The h-index was 82. Affiliated hospitals of Capital Medical University contributed most articles. Cerebral ischemia and intracranial aneurysm were the most popular keywords over the three decades. The timeline view of keywords indicated that cerebral ischemia always was a hot spot. Stent techniques were the main treatment tools and still had a strong developing trend. Neural regeneration and neuroprotection were the hot topics of basic researches related to cerebrovascular intervention. CONCLUSIONS: The number of researches grows rapidly in China over the decades, but the quality still needs further improvement. The increasing contributions of Chinese researchers to the global knowledge system of cerebrovascular intervention are promising.