ADVANCEMENTS IN 3D PRINTING FOR METAL BIO-IMPLANTS: A COMPREHENSIVE BIBLIOMETRIC AND SCIENTOMETRIC ANALYSIS

The growth trend and increasing global population are leading to new healthcare challenges that require prompt and effective solutions to meet the clinical demands. Currently, three-dimensional (3D) printing is emerging as a rapidly advancing technology to produce metal implants and other biomedical applications. This method creates intricate designs with biomimetic characteristics in a shorter timeframe, enabling healthcare providers to meet the needs of their patients better. This study thoroughly analyzes the demand and manufacturing methods for biomedical implants, particularly metal bio-implants. It also delves into biomaterials used in additive manufacturing, accompanied by a comprehensive bibliometric study covering scientific production by country, highly cited nations, productive authors, collaboration networks, and source rankings. The paper further investigates top author contributions, affiliations, and trends, featuring various analytical tools, such as co-citation networks, keyword co-occurrence analysis, and reference publication year spectroscopy, culminating in presenting key findings through insightful field plots. The current study uses network analysis and scientometric methodologies to analyze data taken from the Scopus journal database, which includes articles from the period between 2014 and 2023, to accomplish this goal. Through this analysis, the article aims to offer valuable insights into the relevance and real-world implications of previous research on the additive manufacturing of metal bio-implants.