Exploring the Research Landscape of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Stroke: A Bibliometric Review

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has gained significant attention as a potential therapeutic tool in stroke rehabilitation, promoting neuroplasticity and enhancing motor and cognitive recovery. Despite growing research, the field's evolution and key trends remain underexplored. This study aims to perform a bibliographic analysis of publications related to tDCS and stroke rehabilitation to assess the growth of the field. Published literature was searched in PubMed and Web of Science (WOS) on 10 December 2024. We used the keywords "transcranial direct current stimulation" and "stroke" to collect studies without any time limitation. Articles found in WOS were used to get trends, and a search from PubMed was used to analyze co-occurrences in VOSviewer, version 1.6.20 (Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University, the Netherlands). A total of 1,598 articles were found in WOS, and 1,300 were found in PubMed. As there was overlapping of subject categories, countries, and affiliations, the total number differed in calculating the percentages. The analysis revealed significant growth in publications on tDCS and stroke rehabilitation, peaking at 137 publications in 2022. Most studies focus on neuroscience (860, or 30.6%), clinical neurology (562, or 20%), and rehabilitation (244, or 8.68%). The United States leads contributions (519, or 22.4%), followed by Germany (249, or 10.7%) and China (179, or 7.7%). Publications are concentrated among major publishers like Elsevier (358, or 22.4%) and key journals such as Brain Stimulation and Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. English dominates as the primary language (1,572, or 98.37%). Research emphasizes tDCS's role in motor recovery and brain plasticity in stroke rehabilitation. This bibliometric analysis highlights a substantial and growing interest in tDCS for stroke rehabilitation, with a steady increase in publications. The focus of research predominantly lies in neuroscience, clinical neurology, and rehabilitation, reflecting the central role of tDCS in advancing stroke recovery and brain plasticity. The concentration of publications among major publishers and journals underscores the prominence of specific platforms in disseminating tDCS research. More research from developing countries is needed to achieve a balanced geographical diversity on this topic.