Bibliometric and visualized analysis of research on ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament

Abstract

Objectives: Through the analysis of the publication years, countries, institutions, keywords, references, authors, and journals, we found the main directions and hot topics of Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament research. Methods: Using the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI E) database of the Web Of Science (WOS) Core Collection database, publications on OPLL research were retrieved from 1995 to 2019, and bibliometric methodology was used to research the source data. VOSviewer software were used to analyze the publication trend in OPLL research. Network maps were made by using VOS viewer, to discover the relationship between institutions, keywords, references, authors, and journals. Results: 1525 literatures were retrieved in the field of OPLL by using the database of the Web Of Science (WOS). The country and institution with the largest number of publications are Japan and Hirosaki University (Japan). The most co-cited document was “Operative Results and Postoperative Progression of Ossification among Patients with Ossification of Cervical Posterior Longitudinal Ligament”, authored by Hirabayashi K, published in the journal “Spine”. Hirabayashi K was also the most co-cited author. The relationship between co-cited authors was also awfully close and active. The most articles about OPLL were published in SPINE, which is also the most co-cited journal. Conclusions: Japan contributed the most publications. The overall trend of literature publication on OPLL was increasing year by year. By summarizing keywords, co-cited keywords, references, and co-cited references, it was not difficult to find the surgical method and the factors that affect the long-term postoperative effect were the hotspots of research.