Robotic metabolic and bariatric surgery in community <i>vs</i>. academic centers in USA: a bibliometric analysis on behalf of TROGSS - The Robotic Global Surgical Society

Robotic metabolic and bariatric surgery (RMBS) has emerged as the most effective approach in the treatment of severe obesity in academic medical centers (AMCs) and community medical centers (CMCs) in the United States of America (USA). However, differences in their scientific productivity in their fields remain unexplored. This bibliometric analysis evaluates the differences in the scientific production related to RMBS in AMC vs. CMC in the USA from the point of view of bibliometric analysis. In the core collection of the Web of Science database, the research technique used in this bibliometric analysis includes specific keywords for “robotic” and “bariatric surgery”. Original articles released up until 2023 were included. A total of 89 articles were included in the study, with 73 originating from AMC and 16 from CMC. Compared with CMC, AMC had a higher average number of articles per year (3.48 vs. 1.1, P = 0.002) and a higher annual growth rate (13.23% vs. 7.6%). However, in terms of scientific impact, there was no difference in the average citations per article (22.73 ± 32.96 vs. 12.25 ± 9.59, P = 0.213) or the proportion of articles published in the highest quality scientific journals (54.8 vs. 56.3, P = 0.916). The scientific output of RMBS increased by 14.5% annually, showing a rising linear trend in AMC and an unclear trend in CMC. The University of Illinois was the most frequent AMC, while the Orlando Health network was the most common CMC. Both CMC and AMC play a pivotal role in the scientific production related to RMBS in the USA, with academic centers having a higher scientific production, but with similar scientific impact to the field at this time.