Identifying research activity on brain ultrasonography in craniocerebral diseases by bibliometric and visualized analysis of a 20-year journey of global publications

Brain ultrasonography has emerged as a key tool in neurocritical care. This study aimed to investigate the global research trends and future research directions in the application of brain ultrasonography for craniocerebral diseases using quantification and visualization approaches. Publications on brain ultrasonography published between 2004 and 2024 retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database were screened against predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria and analyzed. The data were processed using VOSviewer and CiteSpace to identify core countries/regions, institutions, authors, journals, collaborations, and research trends. Over the past 2 decades, 1251 articles focusing on brain ultrasonography as the primary subject were published across 455 journals by 5655 authors from 1619 institutions in 84 countries/regions. Publications exhibited a fluctuating and gradually progressive trend, with the number of publications per year peaking between 2019 and 2021. The USA, the United Kingdom, and Germany emerged as leading countries in this field, demonstrating robust cooperation with other countries/regions. Additionally, the University of Leicester and Panerai RB was the most prolific institution and author, respectively. The clinical applications of brain ultrasonography have progressively broadened from neurocritical care to encompass the general intensive care unit and emergency department. Finally, recent scholarly attention has primarily been directed toward the "deep learning framework" and "hypoxic-ischemic brain injury." Globally, publications focusing on brain ultrasonography displayed a fluctuating and gradually progressive trend over the past 2 decades. Moreover, primary clinical applications and techniques have been constantly expanding. Overall, the findings of our study expanded our understanding of the current status of brain ultrasonography, potentially guiding future development directions in this field.