In-laboratory polysomnography as the reference standard in sleep research: a bibliometric overview of human studies

In-laboratory attended Polysomnography (PSG) is the reference standard for objective sleep assessment. Although portable and wearable sleep technologies have advanced, the evolution of PSG research over the past decade has not been systematically characterized.

Bibliometric data from the Web of Science Core Collection (2015-2025) were retrieved using a search strategy focused on in-laboratory, full-night PSG studies, yielding 462 publications for analysis. VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and Microsoft Excel were used to conduct visual and quantitative analyses of publication trends, country- and institution-level co-authorship, journal distribution, author keywords, and keywords bursts.

Annual publications exhibited a steady increase, with the United States and China as the leading contributors. Prominent institutions included Eindhoven University of Technology and Seoul National University. PSG research was predominantly published in specialized sleep medicine journals. Keyword analysis revealed a stable thematic core encompassing sleep monitoring, sleep staging, and sleep apnea, alongside emerging trends in machine learning, wearable devices, and brain modeling.

Within the corpus of included in-laboratory PSG studies, research outputs demonstrated a sustained trajectory, exhibiting a pattern of parallel development between clinical applications and technical refinement. While PSG remains a foundational methodological pillar in this specific domain, its evolving integration with advanced computational methods underscores a continued commitment to bridging clinical relevance and technological progress within PSG-focused research.