Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research ›› 2026, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (36): 9632-9639.doi: 10.12307/2026.369

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Visualization analysis of research hotspots and trends in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis

Bei Chaoyong, Zhu Jialin, Yu Zhengze, Shi Niujin, Li Huarui, Peng Fenglin   

  1. School of Physical Education and Health, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541006, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
  • Received:2025-07-09 Revised:2025-09-10 Online:2026-12-28 Published:2026-05-26
  • Contact: Peng Fenglin, PhD, Professor, School of Physical Education and Health, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541006, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
  • About author:Bei Chaoyong, PhD candidate, Chief physician, School of Physical Education and Health, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541006, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
  • Supported by:
    Innovation Project of Guangxi Graduate Education, No. YCBZ2025084 (to BCY)

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Comparative studies have been conducted on different treatment methods for knee osteoarthritis, but there remains a relative paucity of visualized studies on global research trends in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis that span a long period of time and include a large number of literature sources.
OBJECTIVE: To reveal global research trends over the past two decades in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis through bibliometric methods and to conduct visualized analyses of research entities and hotspots, thereby providing references for future studies.
METHODS: This study selected relevant literature from the Web of Science Core Collection database. CiteSpace software was used for visual analysis of publication trends, main institutions, core authors, keywords, centrality, clustering and co-cited literature, to reveal the knowledge base and frontier hotspots in this field.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) A total of 5 806 publications from 2005 to 2024 were finally included; the overall number of publications from the selected articles showed an upward trend. China, the United States, and Australia are the three countries with the largest number of publications in this field. Harvard University is the most prolific research institution. (2) Keywords co-occurrence analysis displayed that platelet-rich plasma, arthroplasty, sodium hyaluronate and acupuncture have been attempted for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis in clinical practice. (3) Burstiness analysis of keywords identified emerging hotspots such as cells, unicompartmental knee arthroplasty, and stromal vascular fraction in recent years. (4) Co-citation analysis revealed that foundational literature focusing on pharmacological or non-pharmacological treatments and clinical guidelines constituted the basis of this field. (5) Cluster analysis revealed that there are controversies regarding the treatment of knee osteoarthritis with biological agents such as mesenchymal stem cells and platelet-rich plasma. Large sample randomized controlled trials are still needed to verify their efficacy, reflecting the current and future research hotspots in field. 


Key words: knee osteoarthritis, bibliometrics, CiteSpace, visualization analysis, research hotspots

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