Visual analysis of hot spots and trends in the study of ligamentum flavum ossification

doi:10.12307/2025.272

Abstract

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Ossification of the ligamentum flavum was previously considered to be rare in the population. As research has progressed, its incidence rate is increasing gradually, which has aroused the interest of a large number of researchers.
OBJECTIVE: To visualize and analyze the research results on ossification of the ligamentum flavum from the Web of Science Core Collection since 1999 using bibliometric methods, and to review the research history of ossification of the ligamentum flavum, highlighting important literature, summarizing research hotspots, and providing ideas for researchers to find research directions.
METHODS: Using the Web of Science Core Collection as the data source, relevant papers on ossification of the ligamentum flavum were searched and screened. VOSviewer 1.6.19 and CiteSpace 6.2.R6 were used to conduct the visual analysis of annual publication volume, research countries, institutions, citations, journals, authors, and keywords.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) A total of 347 papers were included. Since 1999, the number of published papers has increased in a spiral pattern. China’s research started later than Japan’s, but the number of publications has come up later, with Peking University being the institution with the most publications, and Prof. Chen Zhongqiang from Peking University being the scholar with the most publications. (2) Five of the 10 most frequently cited publications were related to the surgical treatment of the disease. (3) Excluding keywords directly related to the research topic and synthetically analyzing frequencies and betweenness centralities of key words, terms such as “thoracic myelopathy,” “dural ossification,” “minimally invasive surgery,” and “ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament” occupied a central position in this field. (4) Keywords clustering analysis showed that clinical manifestations and surgical treatment of ossification of the ligamentum flavum accounted for a large proportion of study. (5) The timeline and burst analysis of keywords revealed that “minimally invasive surgery” appeared as a keyword around 2015, with the highest burst strength and the latest burst start time, and began to receive extensive attention from researchers in 2019. The burst of the keyword “dural ossification” has not yet ended. (6) Surgical treatment for ossification of the ligamentum flavum has been at the forefront of research. Development and research of minimally invasive surgery and research on dural ossification secondary to ossification of the ligamentum flavum are both current research hotspots and possible future research trends.

Key words: ossification of the ligamentum flavum, dural ossification, spinal ligament, ossification, treatment, bibliometrics, visual analysis, research status, CiteSpace, VOSviewer

CLC Number:

Xu Qiang, Qin Jialin, Lian Zeshuang, Wang Aoting, Li Ding, Wang Ye, Wang Junfang. Visual analysis of hot spots and trends in the study of ligamentum flavum ossification[J]. Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research, 2025, 29(3): 628-636.

Figures/Tables 14

2.1 研究现状 2.1.1 年度发文量趋势年度发文量趋势一定程度上可反映某领域的研究热度及前景，黄韧带骨化的发文量趋势见图1。自1999年来，发文量呈波动上升的趋势。1999-2006年发文量有起伏，但整体稳定在较低水平；自2007年起，发文量表现出螺旋上升的特点，个别年份出现下降，但较之2007年前的平均水平仍较高。 2.1.2 研究国家分布黄韧带骨化研究领域发文量前5位的国家分别是中国(183篇，约占总发文量的52.74%)、日本(76篇，约占总发文量的21.90%)、美国(28篇，约占总发文量的8.07%)、韩国(27篇，约占总发文量的7.78%)、印度(14篇，约占总发文量的4.03%)，见表1。检索时间范围内，日本最早开始发表该领域的研究成果(1999年，检索的起始年份)，中国2004年开始发表。中国的中介中心性最高(0.18)，发文量第二位的日本中心性排名第二位(0.08)。日本的文章篇均被引次数最高(23.95)，韩国排名第二位(21.15)，中国排名第三位(15.04)。从研究国家的共现图看，各国家的合作并不紧密，见图2。 2.1.3 研究机构分布黄韧带骨化研究领域发文量前5位的机构排名见表2。排名前5位的机构中，中国研究机构占4个席位，仅日本的大阪大学非中国研究机构。北京大学以41篇的发文量稳居第一，远远高于其后的机构。但就中介中心性来看，并未有特别突出的机构。从研究机构共现图谱看，日本的机构间合作紧密和频繁，中国的研究机构发文量大，但是机构间合作较为稀少和松散，更未发现处于合作中心地位的研究机构[2，5，13，17-23]，见图3。从整体看，机构间的合作出现了很强的地域性，局限于各自国家内的合作交流，缺乏国际间的沟通协作，这一点与国家共现图谱的分析吻合，见图2。 2.1.4 参考文献共被引分析/突现分析参考文献共被引图谱见图4(图中显示的是被引频次超过30次的共被引文献即347篇文献的参考文献，包含部分1999年前的文献)，被引频次前10位的参考文献见表3。被引频次前10位的参考文献中，5篇与疾病临床表现和手术治疗相关[13， 17-20]， 3篇与疾病的预后因素相关[18， 21-22]，2篇主要研究了疾病在中国人群中的流行病学特征[2，5]，有2篇研究了疾病的组织病理学和免疫病理学[17，23] (部分文献研究主题不单一)。这些研究成果学术价值高，研究者应重点查阅。文献突现图谱见图5，文献Guo JJ(2010)被引次数最多[2]，同时突现强度也最高。文献Baba S (2016)突现年份最晚[24]，研究了9例借助显微内镜通过微创手术进行后路减压的病例，突现持续了4年。 2.1.5 期刊共被引分析黄韧带骨化研究领域期刊共被引图谱见图6，图中显示的是被引频次达35次及以上的期刊。被引频次排名前5 的期刊见表4，排名前3位的期刊为《SPINE》(被引1 548次)、《JOURNAL OF NEUROSURGERY-SPINE》(被引723次)、《EUROPEAN SPINE JOURNAL》(被引548次)。上述杂志刊载的相关研究成果质量相对高，学者可提高关注度。"

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