Publication trends and global productivity about the anterior cruciate ligament: a bibliometric analysis between 1980-2021

Abstract

Aim: Due to anatomic, biomechanical, kinematic, biological and clinical data obtained as a result of many studies related to treatment and rehabilitation of injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), among the most studied anatomic structures in the human body, the literature is continuously being updated and improved. In this study, the aim was to holistically analyze scientific articles about the ACL published between 1980 and 2021 using a variety of statistical methods. Material and Method: Articles published from 1980 to 2021 about the ACL were obtained from the Web of Science (WoS) database and analyzed using statistical methods and bibliometric approaches. To identify trend topics and global cooperation, and to complete citation analysis, network visualization maps were used. The exponential smoothing predictor was used to predict the number of articles that will be published in the next 5 years. Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used for correlation research. Results: A total of 11,077 publications were identified. Of these publications, 9101 (82.1%) were articles. The top 3 countries contributing most to the literature were the USA (3894, 42.7%), Japan (879, 9.6%) and Germany (616, 6.7%). The top 3 active organizations were Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (n=468), University of Pittsburgh (440), and University of California system (279). The top 3 journals publishing most articles were the American Journal of Sports Medicine (n=1614), Knee Surgery Sports Traumatology Arthroscopy (1418), and Arthroscopy: The Journal of Arthroscopic and Related Surgery (915). The most effective journal according to mean number of citations per article was the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (average citation per document: 80.7). The most active author was Freddie H. Fu (n=278, from University of Pittsburgh). Conclusion: In this comprehensive bibliometric research about the topic of ACL, with a trend toward increasing publication numbers in recent years, the summary information for 9101 articles published between 1980 and 2021 was shared. According to analysis results to determine trend topics, the keywords studied in recent years include return to sport, ACL injury, anterolateral ligament, pivot shift, quadriceps strength, KOOS, ACL tear, ACL repair, meniscal repair, knee ligaments, tibial slope, posterior tibial slope, return to play, adolescent, graft failure and lateral meniscus.