Scientometric Research Analysis of Cleft Lip and Palate Literature: Hot Spots, Most Influential Countries/Journals, History and Future

Objective: Identifying and mapping the hotspots of the Cleft lip and palate (CLP) literature from 1980 to 2022, in addition it is aimed to present the results in a simplification. This article aims to offer an overview of pertinent research, examine prevailing research patterns, and stimulate appropriate areas for future investigation. Methods: In this scientometric research analysis, CLP publications between 1980 and 2022 were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection database. The keywords "cleft lip and palate", "cleft lip, "cleft palate" and "oral cleft" were used in the search. CiteSpace, R-Studio (biblioshiny program) and Excel 2016 software were used for visualizations and analysis. Results: A total of 26,319 articles and 473,074 references were analyzed. The top 3 countries with the most publications were the United States (9,368 publications, 35.59% of the total), the United Kingdom (2,062, 7.83%), and Japan (1,786, 6.78%). After the co-citation clustering analysis, it was seen that the CLP literature was divided under 13 headings. The most influential articles were found with the citation burst analysis. Conclusion: Scientometric analysis study has been done in CLP's 42-year publication history. The results obtained present the general trend of the CLP literature, the topics on which the literature is divided, and the hot spots. With similar scientometric analysis studies to be carried out in the future, the progress of the literature can be followed and the future can be predicted.