Advancing insights: a bibliometric analysis of evolutionary patterns and research frontiers in ultrasound-derived quantitative assessment of skeletal muscle.

Background: Quantitative ultrasound has emerged as a promising tool for measuring skeletal muscle mass and quality. Given the growing need for early detection of muscle dysfunction and sarcopenia, this study aims to provide a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the current state of knowledge in this field, identifying key trends, gaps, and themes to guide future research and clinical applications.

Methods: A bibliometric analysis was performed on articles retrieved from the Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) database within the Web of Science Core Collection up to April 28, 2024. The 'bibliometrix' R package was utilized to synthesize main findings, quantify the occurrences of top keywords, and visualize international collaboration networks. Keyword co-occurrence and co-authorship were analyzed utilizing VOSviewer. Additionally, CiteSpace facilitated the identification of cited references and keywords exhibiting highest citation bursts.

Results: A total of 3,379 publications were analyzed. The United States, Japan, and China emerged as the leading contributors to this field. The European Journal of Applied Physiology was identified as the most prolific journal, and Takashi Abe was distinguished for achieving the leading H-index. "Strength" and "reliability" topped the keyword frequency list. "Insulin resistance", "impact", "shear wave elastography", "risk", and "sarcopenia" were keywords that continued to burst as of 2024, which indicated the potential emerging research topics and future frontiers.

Conclusions: This bibliometric analysis, encompassing over forty years of literature on quantitative ultrasound assessment of skeletal muscle, delineated key contributions from countries, institutions, authors, and journals. The findings highlight the utility of quantitative ultrasound as a critical tool in assessing skeletal muscle mass and function, demonstrating its global impact and research trends.