Bibliometric Analysis of the Scientific Literature on Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

In recent years, there has been increasing research on adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), leading to many publications on this topic. To our knowledge, no study has focused on the research trends in this field.

Using the Web of Science Core Collection database for all articles on AIS, the number of citations, authorship, year of publication, journal of publication, country and institution of origin, and keywords were subjected to co-occurrence analysis using VOSviewer software. The top 100 most-cited articles on AIS were analyzed.

Between 1985 and 2020, 2266 articles related to AIS were identified. The frequency of publication on AIS has increased substantially over time. Among all countries, the United States has contributed the most articles on AIS (n = 671). The most productive institution has been Nanjing University (n = 154). Spine topped the list of journals and has published 569 AIS-related articles, which received 19,862 total citations. The clinical description of AIS has been the most common research focus in the AIS literature.

The scientific literature on AIS has rapidly expanded in recent years. This study represents the updated bibliometric analysis of scientific articles on AIS and provides a research trend for the first time, which aims to give a unique insight into the development of AIS research focus and serve as a useful guide to clinicians and researchers in the field.