Global research trends and hotspots of robot-assisted urological telesurgery: a bibliometric analysis

With the integration of telecommunication and intelligent robotic technology, robot-assisted urological telesurgery has progressively evolved from early technical exploration toward broader clinical applications and procedural optimization, yet the global knowledge architecture, collaborative patterns and thematic evolution of this field remain unsystematically characterized. This study adopted bibliometric methodologies to systematically map the global research landscape, thematic evolutionary trends, and collaborative patterns of robot-assisted urological telesurgery over the period 2005-2025. The results demonstrated an overall increase in cumulative publication output from 2005 to 2025, accompanied by fluctuating annual productivity. China surpassed the United States in publication output in 2023, whereas the United States retained the highest citation impact and a central position in international collaboration. Qingdao University was the most productive affiliation, and author productivity was led by Patel V, followed by Moschovas MC, Niu HT and Yang XC. Journal of Robotic Surgery was the most productive source, whereas Surgical Endoscopy and European Urology occupied prominent positions in the local citation structure. Keyword co-occurrence, clustering, burst detection and timeline analyses revealed a progressive transition from early system development and feasibility exploration toward broader minimally invasive and robot-assisted urological applications. "Minimally invasive surgical procedures" remained an active burst term from 2023 to 2025, while current thematic clusters prominently involved minimally invasive surgery, robotic surgical procedures, robot-assisted surgery and remote surgery. Despite increasing research activity, international and inter-institutional collaboration remained geographically clustered. This bibliometric research summarizes the global knowledge framework and hotspot transitions within this discipline, and underscores the requirements for extensive international collaboration, standardized training programmes, high-end communication infrastructure and accessible remotesurgical care services.