Shedding light on Brazil's contribution to photobiomodulation research in oral medicine: a bibliometric study

The aim of this study was to verify the role of Brazilian researchers in publications related to photobiomodulation (PBM) in the field of oral medicine. We examined ten years from 2012 to 2022 across 16 journals. Our analysis included scientific publications with a Brazilian author either in the first or last position and publications from international collaborations. The search yielded 43,525 publications. After examining titles and abstracts, 269 studies were categorized as having a specific emphasis on PBM in oral medicine, of which 147 (54.6%) were undertaken by research groups based in Brazil. The citations ranged from 1 to 149 (an average of 31 per manuscript). The male-to-female ratio of first and last author was 1:2 and 1:1.4, respectively. Brazilian involvement in the field of PBM was significant, with a marked focus on basic research, clinical applications, and technological advances. Our results also underscore the remarkable participation of female researchers in pivotal roles. Brazilian publications positively impacted healthcare worldwide using PBM in oral medicine, as evidenced by the substantial number of articles published and the citations of these articles received.