Global Cluster Analysis and Network Visualization in Musculoskeletal Pain Management: A Scientometric Mapping

OBJECTIVE: Musculoskeletal pain is the most prominent clinical manifestation of more than 150 musculoskeletal disease conditions, and its effective long‐term management poses a great challenge to healthcare systems globally. For this, it is important to understand current research progress on musculoskeletal pain management. The purpose of the present study is to provide a comprehensive insight into the current state of research and global trends in musculoskeletal pain management. METHODS: Publications on musculoskeletal pain management from 1972 to 2021 were retrieved from the Science Citation Index‐Expanded (SCIE) database. Included articles were any article type related to aspects of musculoskeletal pain management, including etiology, mechanisms, epidemiology, treatment, outcomes, side effects, and patient compliance. Publication data were analyzed using bibliometric methods. The software VOSviewer was employed to perform bibliographic coupling, co‐authorship, co‐citation, and co‐occurrence analysis, and to visualize publication tendencies in musculoskeletal pain management. RESULTS: A total of 5475 articles were included in this study. The number of global publications on musculoskeletal pain management has escalated annually. Based on the number of publications and citations from the published literature, as well as the H‐index, the United States led global contributions in this area. The institutions making the highest contributions were the League of European Research Universities (LERU), the University of Sydney, and Harvard University. The journal BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders published the highest number of articles in this area. The published studies fall under six groups: “Prevention and rehabilitation,” “Etiology and diagnosis,” “Clinical study,” “Epidemiology,” “Mental health,” and “Education.” High‐quality primary studies and epidemiology are predicted to be the next prevailing topics in this field of research. CONCLUSIONS: Based on current global trends, the number of publications on musculoskeletal pain management will continue to increase. Future studies will likely place more emphasis on high‐quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and epidemiological studies.