Mapping of Global Research in Endodontics From 2004 to 2023: A Bibliometric Analysis

Endodontics, a branch of dentistry, treats diseases and impairments in tissues within and surrounding the natural teeth. The aim of the study was to analyze the publication trends and key features of endodontic research published over the past 20 years across the globe. The quantitative bibliometric research approach was used to extract the data from the Web of Science database. The search strategy consisted of TC=("root canal" OR "root canals" OR "Pulp chamber" OR "pulp chambers" OR "pulp cavity" OR endodontic OR endodontics) and selected the publication years from 2004 to 2023. The search focused on articles and reviews and excluded all other types of documents. The study reviewed and extracted the following bibliometric parameters: breakdown of research and citations by year, type of journals, accessibility and types of documents, top publishing journals, countries, institutions, authors, most cited articles, and top keywords. Microsoft Excel (v16), R Foundation, and VOSviewer software (v.1.6.10) were used for data analysis. Our search strategy grasped 23,894 (69%) of the 34,680 documents found by the initial search. The selected articles were cited with an average of 20 citations per article, recording an average annual growth of 8.92%. Two journals, the Journal of Endodontics and the International Endodontic Journal published about one-fourth (n=5859; 24.52%) of the articles. Brazil produced the majority of the research (n=3,976; 16.64%), while the United States contributed the research with the highest citation impact. The University of São Paulo produced the most number of articles, while the University of Zurich gained maximum citation impact. Six authors from Brazil made up the top 10 most prolific authors, and the 10 most cited articles received an average of 692.30 citations each. The most influential keywords identified were "Endodontics," "Enterococcus faecalis," and "Cone-beam computed tomography." Over the past 20 years, endodontics research has significantly increased. Although the United States generated the most significant research in this area, Brazil leads in research productivity. Two prestigious journals published the majority of the research. Researchers and clinicians in the field of endodontics would benefit from the findings of this study.