Global research on maxillofacial fracture over the last 40 years: A bibliometric study

Abstract

Maxillofacial injuries are widely investigated worldwide as it consists a significant portion of trauma patients. Many researchers from various regions have reported the clinical and statistical analyses of maxillofacial fractures (MFFs) as the statistical data of MMFs are of great importance for both effective control and prevention of these cases. The number of studies concerning the diagnosis and treatment modalities of MFFs has significantly increased over the years. The bibliometric method was used to analyze publication outputs, countries, journals, most citations, and trends. In this study, the bibliometric analysis method was used in the publications related to MFFs published between 1980 and 2019, which were Science Citation Index Expanded indexed in the Web of Science database. Bibliometric analysis is applied to evaluate existing data in an evidence-based manner. The highest number of scientific articles on MFFs came from the USA, which was also the most cited country among others. When the distribution of the words in abstracts and titles by years was examined, it was seen that there was a significant change in the words "navigation," "computer," and "technology" between 2009 and 2012. The authors predict that our study would provide a novel perspective to the studies about MFFs and contribute to the researchers about the limits of the topic, and being aware of the active journals that publish the papers on this issue would facilitate the work of the researchers.