Research hotspots and trends in nursing for diabetic foot ulcers: A bibliometric analysis from 2013 to 2023

Nursing can effectively prevent and ameliorate diabetic foot ulcers (DFU). However, there is a lack of literature on the bibliometric analysis of DFU nursing. This study aimed to analyze the research hotspots and development trends in DFU nursing over the past 10 years to provide references for future related research.

The Web of Science Core Collection was used to retrieve literature related to DFU nursing from 2013 to 2023. Analyses included the annual publication trends; author, institution, and country collaborations; journal and literature co-citation; and keyword co-occurrence, clustering, and bursting, performed using CiteSpace 5.8 R3.

A total of 229 papers were included, showing an upward trend in annual publications. American scholar David G Armstrong (n = 3) and King's College Hospital London (n = 4) were the most productive authors and institutions, respectively. The United States ranked first (n = 45) in national contributions, followed by China and Brazil. The overall research strength between authors and institutions was relatively scattered, and intensive cooperation has not yet been formed. National collaborations resulted in a core team dominated by Europe and North America with concentrated research strengths. The most frequently co-cited journal and co-cited reference were Diabetes Care (111 citations) and Armstrong DG (2017) (131 citations), separately. Research hotspots mainly focused on risk assessment, classification systems, protective measures, and clinical management of DFU. "Primary care" and "intervention efficacy" were identified as the research trends in the coming years.

The field of DFU nursing requires more attention. Academic exchange and cooperation between authors, institutions, and countries should be strengthened. Our future research will focus on the latest hotspots and trends, conducting more in-depth and comprehensive studies on DFU management.