Hotspots and emerging trends in acupuncture research during 2012–2022: A bibliometric analysis

To find the hotspots of acupuncture research in the last decade and predict future trends. The Web of Science Core Collection was used to retrieve articles published on the topic of acupuncture from January 1, 2012, to August 31, 2022. CiteSpace 6.1.R3, VOSviewer 1.6.18, SCImago Graphics and other tools were used to visualize and analyze the number of publications, countries, authors, journals, institutions, keywords, and cited articles. A total of 10,942 articles published from January 2012 to August 2022 were analysed. A total of 97 countries and regions have conducted acupuncture research, with the highest number of research conducted in China. Furthermore, 8,056 institutions were involved in acupuncture research. In addition, 1,823 journals have published articles related to acupuncture research, with the highest number published by the journal Evid-Based Compl Alt (1,096 articles). The hotspots of acupuncture research are acupuncture analgesia (low back pain, knee osteoarthritis, headache, shoulder pain, neck pain, cancer pain, migraine), acupuncture anti-inflammatory (allergic rhinitis [AR], inflammatory pain), female-related diseases (polycystic ovary syndrome and breast cancer), cerebrovascular diseases (stroke and hemiplegia), rehabilitation treatment (postoperative nausea and vomiting, postoperative pain, and trauma pain in veterans), resting functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), nervous system diseases (nerve regeneration and neuroprotection), depression, insomnia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), evidence-based researches, etc. From the analysis of acupuncture research hotspots, acupuncture research was mainly focused on acupuncture mechanisms, clinical efficacy, and acupuncture standards. The emerging trends for the future include the standardization of acupuncture research and the treatment of chronic diseases with a clinical basis and more efficacy through the use of acupuncture in internal medicine.