Research Hotspots and Trends in Varicocele: A Bibliometric Analysis

Objective: This study aims to systematically analyze the relationship between varicocele and male fertility, as well as to research the hotspots and development trends in the field of varicocele treatment, using bibliometric methods. Methods: Based on the Web of Science database, 1950 relevant literature articles were retrieved. CiteSpace (6.4.R1) software was utilized to analyze author, institution, and keyword node information, and to explore the main research groups, institutions, as well as research hotspots and development trends in this field. Results: Analysis revealed that the annual publication volume of varicocele-related literature increased year by year, reaching a peak of 250 articles in 2020. The United States, China, and Italy are the main research countries, and the Egyptian Knowledge Bank in Egypt is the most productive institution. The leading author, Agarwal A, occupies an important position in this field. Collaboration among the top 10 authors was relatively close, but cross-team collaboration was insufficient. We also found that ANDROLOGIA is the most prolific journal, and FERTILITY AND STERILITY had the highest number of citations. Keyword co-occurrence analysis revealed sustained attention on topics such as "infertility" and "oxidative stress", and clustering results showed 10 significant research themes. Conclusion: Visual analysis of varicocele disease using CiteSpace software can quickly and intuitively provide an understanding of the basic knowledge and evolutionary trajectory of this field, and analyze the main research directions, hot topics, and future development trends. Trial registration: Not applicable