Abstract
Background:Myopia is one of the most common causes of vision impairment in children and adults and has become a public health priority with its growing prevalence worldwide. This study aims to identify and evaluate the global trends in myopia research of the past century and visualize the frontiers using bibliometric analysis.MethodsThe literature search was conducted on the Web of Science for myopia studies published between 1900 and 2020. Retrieved publications were analyzed in-depth by the annual publication number, prolific countries and institutions, core author and journal, and the number of citations through descriptive statistics. Collaboration networks and keywords burst were visualized by VOSviewer and CiteSpace. Myopia citation network was visualized using CitNetExplorer.ResultsIn total, 11,172 publications on myopia were retrieved from 1900 to 2020, with most published by the United States. Saw SM, from the National University of Singapore, contributed the most publications and citations. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science was the journal with highest number of citations. Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery with the maximum number of publications. The top 10 cited papers mainly focused on the epidemiology of myopia. Previous research emphasized myopia-associated experimental animal models, while recent keywords include “SMILE” and “myopia control” with the stronger burst, indicating a shift of concern from etiology to therapy and coincided with the global increment of incidence. Document citation network was clustered into six groups: “prevalence and risk factors of myopia,” “surgical control of myopia,” “pathogenesis of myopia,” “optical interventions of myopia,” “myopia and glaucoma,” and “pathological myopia.”ConclusionsBibliometrics analysis in this study could help scholars comprehend global trends of myopia research frontiers better. Hundred years of myopia research were clustered into six groups, among which “prevalence and risk factors of myopia” and “surgical control of myopia” were the largest groups. With the increasing prevalence of myopia, interventions of myopia control are a potential research hotspot and pressing public health issue.
Highlights
Myopia, known as short-sightedness or near-sightedness, is one of the most prevalent eye disorders worldwide that lead to vision impairment in young individuals [1]
The increasing prevalence combined with the rising early onset of myopia, which naturally leads to an increased risk of high myopia [3]
The search strategy for the terms related to Myopia was restricted to Title/Abstract to achieve greater accuracy in the results because many reported publications were not related to Myopia if applied to other search fields such as keywords
Summary
Known as short-sightedness or near-sightedness, is one of the most prevalent eye disorders worldwide that lead to vision impairment in young individuals [1]. It is one of the five ocular conditions listed as an immediate priority by the World Health Organization’s Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness. High myopia can generate irreversible blindness owing to the secondary changes in the choroid, retina, and sclera [4]. Optical interventions, such as spectacles, contact lenses, and refractive surgeries can correct the refractive error; they may not prevent high myopia-related complications [5]. This study aims to identify and evaluate the global trends in myopia research of the past century and visualize the frontiers using bibliometric analysis
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