Scientometrics
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Aug 6, 2025; 13(22): 99221
Published online Aug 6, 2025. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i22.99221
Mapping the field of spondylolisthesis: A bibliometric analysis
Jiong-Nan Xu, Yong Li, Ting-Xiao Zhao, Wei-Yi Wu, Xin-Wen Yang, Heng-Wei Zhang, Qi Chen, Chen Xia, Jun Zhang
Jiong-Nan Xu, Wei-Yi Wu, Jun Zhang, The Second School of Clinical Medicine, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310051, Zhejiang Province, China
Jiong-Nan Xu, Ting-Xiao Zhao, Wei-Yi Wu, Qi Chen, Chen Xia, Center for Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Orthopedics, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital (Affiliated People's Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College), Hangzhou 310011, Zhejiang Province, China
Yong Li, Department of Orthopedics, Qingtian People's Hospital, Lishui 323000, Zhejiang Province, China
Xin-Wen Yang, Jun Zhang, School of Basic Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou 310013, Zhejiang Province, China
Heng-Wei Zhang, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Center for Musculoskeletal Research, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, MA 02770, United States
Jun Zhang, Department of Orthopedics, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital Bijie Hospital, Bijie 551700, Guizhou Province, China
Co-first authors: Jiong-Nan Xu and Yong Li.
Author contributions: Xu JN and Yong L contributed equally to this study as co-first authors; Xu JN was responsible for conceptualization, methodology and software; Yong L was responsible for data curation, writing- original draft preparation; Zhao TX was responsible for visualization and investigation; Wu WY was responsible for supervision; Yang XW was responsible for software and validation; Zhang HW was responsible for writing- reviewing and editing; Chen Q was responsible for writing-review & editing; Chen X was responsible for formal analysis; Zhang J was responsible for funding acquisition and project administration.
Supported by Science and Technology Department of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine-Zhejiang Provincial Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine Joint Science and Technology Program, No. GZY-ZJ-KJ-23057; Bijie City Science and Technology Program 2023 (Second Batch), No. BKH(2023)55; and 2024 Guizhou Province Chinese Medicine, Ethnic Medicine Science and Technology Research Special Project, No. QZYY-2024-109.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors disclosed no relevant relationships.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jun Zhang, MD, Chief Doctor, Department of Orthopedics, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital Bijie Hospital, No. 112 Guanghui Road, Qixingguan District, Bijie 551700, Guizhou Province, China. spinezhangjun2023@126.com
Received: July 17, 2024
Revised: October 22, 2024
Accepted: April 18, 2025
Published online: August 6, 2025
Processing time: 300 Days and 23.2 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

In recent years, the number of studies on spondylolisthesis has been increasing, and there are many publications on this disorder. To our knowledge, there is no bibliometric analysis of spondylolisthesis to date.

AIM

To investigate emerging directions in Spondylolisthesis research and systematically evaluate the academic literature with the highest citation impact within this field.

METHODS

All data were collected from the Web of Science Core Collection database. Years of publications, countries, journals, institutions and total number of citations were extracted and analyzed by VOSviewer software. In addition, we analyzed the top 100 most-cited articles on spondylolisthesis.

RESULTS

A total of 1831 articles related to spondylolisthesis were identified. The frequency of publications on spondylolisthesis has increased dramatically over time. Among all countries, United States has contributed the most publications on spondylolisthesis (n = 574). The institution with the most articles was the University of California, San Francisco (n = 52). Spine topped the list of journals and has published 291 spondylolisthesis-related reports. The hotspot of research changed from posterolateral fusion to interbody fusion.

CONCLUSION

In recent years, academic investigations on spondylolisthesis have exhibited significant growth. As the inaugural bibliometric evaluation in this domain, our research establishes a methodological framework for synthesizing the historical progression and current advancements of spondylolisthesis studies.

Keywords: Spondylolisthesis; Bibliometric analysis; Aging; VOSviewer; Web of Science

Core Tip: We aim to identify the future trends in spondylolisthesis - related research and to analyze the most highly cited scientific publications on spondylolisthesis. This study provides a unique insight into the development of spondylolisthesis research and serves as a useful guide for clinicians and researchers.