The Journal of Robotic Surgery at a glance: productivity, impact, and thematic evolution

This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric evaluation of the Journal of Robotic Surgery (JORS), analyzing its scientific output, thematic evolution, collaboration patterns, and citation performance to support its continued strategic growth in the field of surgical innovation. A total of 2190 articles and reviews published in JORS were retrieved from Scopus (as of July 2025), with 1846 documents receiving 19,031 citations and yielding an h-index of 45. Author productivity analysis revealed ten key contributors with at least 15 publications, led by Patel, V. (26 articles). Their performance was further assessed using advanced bibliometric indicators, including h-index, g-index, m-index, HG Composite, and Q2 Index. Institutional contributions were dominated by North Sichuan Medical College (48 publications), while the United States emerged as the leading national contributor (974 publications), followed by China, the United Kingdom, and Italy. A clear global expansion was noted over time, with the number of contributing countries increasing from 21 in 2007-2010 to 77 by 2021-2025, reflecting growing international collaboration. Thematic mapping using uni-, bi-, and tri-gram keyword analysis highlighted dominant research areas and evolving interests. Citation performance was complemented with SJR and Web of Science metrics, indicating a marked rise in journal impact: Cites per Document increased from 0.769 (2008) to 2.941 (2024), the SJR score rose to 0.764, and the journal impact factor reached 3.0 in 2024. JORS also advanced in journal quartiles, attaining Q1 in Surgery and Q2 in Health Informatics. These findings underscore JORS's growing academic influence and its role as a global platform for advancing robotic surgical science. The hard work of all authors, reviewers, editorial board and honorable editor-in-chief is sincerely appreciated.