SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Surg.
Sec. Visceral Surgery
Worldwide research tendencies on natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery: a bibliometric analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China
- 2The 923 Hospital of Joint Logistics Support Force of Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Nanning, China
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Background Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery, abbreviated as NOTES, a novel surgical technique, involves the insertion of a flexible endoscope into a natural orifice, such as the oral cavity, stomach, vagina, colon, or bladder, to access a specific site for endoscopically assisted surgical procedures. In recent years, endoscopy-mediated NOTES research has witnessed substantial progress. Objective This study seeks to offer a bibliometric analysis of the trends and prospects within the NOTES domain. Methods On January 3, 2026, this study utilized the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) to retrieve literature related to NOTES. The R package 'Bibliometrix' was employed to provide fundamental bibliometric data. VOSviewer was instrumental in conducting keyword analysis, authors analysis, and co-occurrence analysis. Meanwhile, CiteSpace was employed for the analysis of reference bursts and keyword bursts. Moreover, we obtained clinical trial data published within the study period via the PubMed database, aiming to assess clinical advancements in this domain. Conclusion This study identified a total of 2196 publications spanning a 28-year period from 1998 to 2025. The United States led in the number of articles published, with Surgical Endoscopy And Other Interventional Techniques being the most prolific journal, and Harvard University emerging as the most productive institution. The keyword "cholecystectomy" has gained considerable popularity in recent years. Clinical trials in this field have focused on the advantages of NOTES over traditional laparoscopic surgery, as well as the surgical efficacy of VNOTES in the treatment of benign gynecological diseases. Through bibliometric analysis, this paper delineates a foundational intellectual framework, suggesting that NOTES is entering a novel phase of development and is poised to retain its academic significance in forthcoming research endeavors.
Keywords: Bibliometric, Cholecystectomy, Citespace, natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery, VOSviewer
Received: 26 Jan 2025; Accepted: 30 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Zou and Geng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yan Geng
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