A Bibliometric Analysis of International Publication Trends in Andrology Research (1992–2020)

Abstract

Background: As a medical specialty, andrology deals with all aspects of male health, including various diseases of the reproductive system and specific components of the urinary system. With the development of the profession and increase in the number of publications in andrology, it is important to identify the most important and prominent manuscripts that have affected research and practice in clinical settings over the past nearly 30 years. Methods: Published studies on andrology from 1992 to 2020 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. In this study, CiteSpace was used to visualize and analyze the productive journals, countries, institutions, contributing authors, keywords, and research trends. Results: A total of 6109 articles were retrieved from the database. CiteSpace was used to examine the dynamics and the leading and collaborating institutions in andrology since 1992, to provide references for novel technologies and rigorous studies. There was a substantial increase in the number of papers in andrology every year. The author who published the most was A. Agarwal. China had the greatest number of papers and total citation frequency. Revista Internacional de Andrologia published the most papers in andrology. Keyword analyses showed that spermatogenesis, sperm motility, and impotence were the most studied topics in this field, thus more studies in these areas are predicted in the future. Conclusions: CiteSpace was used to characterize the dynamics and leading and collaborating institutions in andrology since 1992, providing references for novel technologies and research.