Research of Acupuncture for Neuropathic Pain from 2002 to 2022: a Bibliometric Analysis via VOSviewer

Background: Acupuncture, as a non-drug therapy, has been an effective and safe treatment for neuropathic pain (NP). However, a bibliometric analysis of the global use of acupuncture for NP is rare. Objective: This study aimed to demonstrate the state and trend of the global use of acupuncture for NP in recent 20 years. Method: Publications relating to acupuncture for NP were retrieved from Web of Science (WoS) database. Reviews were specifically excluded from this study. Vosviewer1.6.16 was used to analyse countries/institutions, cited journals, authors / cited authors, cited references, and keywords. Statistics and centrality analysis were used to reveal publication output, countries/institutions, core journals, active authors, foundation references, hot topics, and frontiers. Results: A total of 868 articles were obtained from the WoS database. The number of publications has increased over the last two decades. China was the most productive among countries or regions in the field. Journal articles were the most frequently occurring document type. Kyung Hee University was the most active institution. The six main types of NP using acupuncture treatments were peripheral neuropathy, carpal tunnel syndrome, trigeminal neuralgia, spinal cord, postherpetic neuralgia, and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Conclusion: Publications about NP treated with acupuncture had remarkably increased from 2002 to 2022. This study provided an in-depth perspective for research on acupuncture for NP and provides researchers with valuable information to determine the current status, hot spots, and frontier trends.