Global research trends in vitreous floaters from 1999 to 2023: a bibliometric analysis

To characterize current global status and frontiers in the field of vitreous floaters research.

The Web of Science Core Collection was used to retrieve the international scientific publications on vitreous floaters from 1999 to 2023. Scientometric data were analyzed and visualized using VOSviewer (1.6.18 Edition) and CiteSpace (6.3.R1).

A total of 547 articles with 8940 citations were identified. The annual number of publications and citations dramatically increased during the period. The USA was the most productive country with 26.33% of the total articles and 40.44% of the total citations. The USA collaborated more frequently with countries including China and Japan. The most productive affiliation was University of California System and the most productive author was Sebag Julia from the USA. Retina and BMC Ophthalmology published the highest percentage of articles (4.94%) while American Journal of Ophthalmology received the most citations (6.66%). The most frequent subject category was "Ophthalmology" (n = 356, 52%). "Vitrectomy", "vitreous floaters", "uveitis", "vitreous opacity", and "YAG vitreolysis" were the top 5 frequent keywords. The efficacy and safety of management for vitreous floaters turned out to be a recent research hot spot, especially the pharmacologic vitreolysis agents and Nd:YAG laser vitreolysis.

The optimized treatment of vitreous floaters emerged as a research hot spot. This study provides a broad insight of the status and frontiers in vitreous floaters, which might guide future research direction in this field.