What are the global trends in research on resin infiltration in dentistry? An altmetric and bibliometric analysis

The aim of this study was to analyze the trends and main characteristics of articles on resin infiltration (RI) in dentistry. The search was carried out in August 2023 on Web of Science. Two researchers selected the articles and excluded conference articles. The following data were extracted from the selected articles: citations, year and journal of publication, study design and theme, authorship and institutions, keywords, country and continent. Collaborative networks were generated using the software Vosviewer. Dimensions were consulted to measure altmetric data. Correlation between data was determined by the Sperman's test. A total of 351 articles were included. The number of citations ranged from 0 to 230. The articles were published between 2007 and 2023. The most prominent journal was Journal of Dentistry (n = 36). The majority were laboratory studies (n = 171) evaluating the performance of RI to mask white spot lesions (n = 248), mainly due to caries (n = 256). The country with the most articles was Brazil (n = 51), however the biggest highlight was Europe (n = 141). The most prominent author was Meyer-Luckel H (n = 33). Vosviewer indicated strong collaborations between authors. According to Dimensions, most citations were from Mendeley followed by X users. This study identified an emerging trend in research on RI in dentistry. Based on this review, most research interest in RI was from Europe, addressing the use of RI to arrest and mask white spot lesions. It is concluded that more intervention studies are needed and that Africa and Oceania have a low publication rate.