Global Trends in Scientific Output of Clinical Trials on Gastric Bypass: A Machine Learning–Based Bibliometric Study

Introduction Gastric bypass (GB) is a well-established metabolic bariatric surgery technique associated with substantial weight loss and significant metabolic benefits. Since the early 2000s, scientific output related to GB has shown sustained growth. This study aimed to analyze the global scientific production of clinical trials on GB, focusing on authorship patterns, country-level contributions, publication impact, and the temporal evolution of thematic research topics. Methods The search term “gastric bypass” was used to retrieve publications indexed in the Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus databases between 2001 and 2024. Bibliometric indicators were combined with normalization strategies based on population size, number of bariatric procedures performed, and obesity prevalence. Data on authorship, countries, citation counts, and keywords were extracted and analyzed. Topic modeling was performed using Latent Dirichlet Allocation, a machine learning approach in bibliometric research. Results A total of 1,102 studies were included, showing an average annual growth rate of 10.6%, with marked expansion after 2010. The United States led in absolute publication volume, whereas European countries demonstrated higher relative productivity after normalization. The ten most cited studies accumulated more than 20,000 citations. Latent Dirichlet Allocation identified emerging, stable, and declining thematic topics, with a dominant and expanding topic related to metabolic outcomes and diabetes mellitus. Conclusion Bariatric surgery research is approaching a global stabilization phase projected until 2030. In GB research, the most prominent and expanding topics involve intestinal hormones and diabetes mellitus, while quality of life, sleep apnea, vitamin D, and gut microbiota remain underexplored and represent future opportunities.