Coronavirus disease-2019 and orthopedics: A bibliometric analysis of the literature

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a dramatic impact on global health, with orthopedics among the most affected specialties. An increasing number of COVID-19-related orthopedic studies have been published. The purpose of this study was to analyze the orthopedic literature published during the COVID-19 pandemic to guide future research. Methods: The Scopus database was searched for relevant literature published between 2020 and 2022. The keywords used in the retrieval process were (“COVID-19” OR “Coronavirus” OR “2019-nCoV” OR “SARS-CoV-2” OR “Betacoronavirus” OR “novel coronavirus 2019” OR “novel coronavirus” OR “coronavirus-19” OR “COVID 19” OR “nCOV” OR “COVID-2019” OR “COVID 2019”) and (“orthopedic” OR “orthopedics” OR “orthopedic” OR “orthopedical” OR “orthopedical” OR “orthopedics”). Spreadsheet software (Excel, Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA) was used to analyze the top 10 cited authors, countries, journals, and articles. The top 5 publication types were also analyzed. VOSviewer (Center for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden, Netherlands) was used to network and visualize the literature. Results: A total of 1619 publications relevant to COVID-19 and orthopedics were reviewed. Among these publications, the most active country, author, and publication type included the United States, Vaishya R, and original articles, respectively. The most frequently used keywords were human, coronavirus disease-2019, pandemic, and orthopedics. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery American Volume was the most cited journal, whereas the greatest number of articles was published in the Journal of Clinical Orthopedics and Trauma. Conclusions: This study provides a perspective on the development of orthopedic publications during the COVID-19 pandemic and evidence for researchers worldwide to strengthen global cooperation in fighting the epidemic.