Global research trends in robot-assisted vitreoretinal surgery: a visualized bibliometric analysis

Robot-assisted vitreoretinal surgery is a precision-oriented approach for technically demanding retinal procedures, but its structure and clinical maturity remain incompletely defined. We mapped the global development of this field using bibliometric and visualization methods. Records indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded of the Web of Science Core Collection were retrieved on May 1, 2026. Bibliometrix in R, CiteSpace, and SCImago Graphica were used to analyze publication output, collaboration networks, citation patterns, journal distribution, and keyword evolution. The final dataset comprised 129 records published from 2008 to May 2026, including 110 original articles and 19 reviews. Full-text review identified 98 original articles with substantive empirical evaluations: 53 technical/simulation studies, 35 preclinical studies, and 10 human clinical studies. Publication output remained low before 2017 but increased thereafter. The United States and China contributed the largest numbers of publications, Johns Hopkins University was the most productive institution, and several authors showed similarly high outputs. Journal and reference analyses revealed an interdisciplinary clinical-engineering knowledge base spanning ophthalmology, medical robotics, imaging, motion control, and computer-assisted intervention. Keyword analyses showed increasing attention to subretinal injection, optical coherence tomography-guided intervention, artificial intelligence, and computer vision. The predominance of technical/simulation and preclinical evaluations suggests that publication growth has outpaced the accumulation of human clinical evidence. Robot-assisted vitreoretinal surgery is therefore better positioned as a selective precision platform for high-demand retinal interventions than as a universal replacement for manual surgery. Future research should prioritize multicenter validation, clinically relevant outcomes, workflow integration, training, and cost-effectiveness.