A Comprehensive Bibliometric Analysis of Current Global Trends in Scientific Production on Robotic Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery

Robotic metabolic and bariatric surgery (RMBS) represents a cutting-edge method for the management of severe obesity, by merging robotic technology's precision with established weight loss surgery benefits. The current study used a bibliometric approach to recognize local research trends and global patterns in RMBS. Utilizing keywords like "robotic" along with "metabolic" or "bariatric surgery," research articles published until December 31, 2023, were sourced resulting in inclusion of a total of 265 articles across 51 journals.

The findings indicated the following:

• A notable annual growth rate of 21.96% in RMBS publications was seen between 2003 and 2023, averaging 12.6 papers per year, and a strong correlation (R² = 0.94) between publication year and article count.
• The average citation count per document was 13.25, with about 90% of the journals categorized in zone 3 per Bradford's classification.
• International collaboration was limited, occurring in 10.57% of articles, with the University of California and the University of Illinois being the leading institutions. 
• The USA, China, and Switzerland had the highest representation of corresponding authors.

In conclusion, while RMBS research has shown significant growth since its inception in 2003, it has yet to match the volume, impact, and collaborative efforts seen in non-robotic metabolic and bariatric surgery studies, indicating potential for further investigation.

Source: Rivero-Moreno Y, Corzo MP, Goyal A, Roa-Maldonado JC, Echevarria S, Elzein S, Elli E, Pullatt R, Pouwels S, Pascotto B, Azagra JS, Raffaelli M, Angrisani L, Yang W, Abou-Mrad A, Oviedo RJ. Scientific production on robotic metabolic and bariatric surgery: a comprehensive bibliometric analysis on its current world status. J Robot Surg. 2024 Oct 26;18(1):384. doi: 10.1007/s11701-024-02135-x. PMID: 39461911.