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Background In recent years, medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS) are widely concerned by domestic and foreign scholars. However, China started late in this field with relatively backward development. It is of significant importance for the promotion of MUPS field development in China to learn the researches on MUPS by international scholars. Objective To discusses the current status, research hotspots and development trends of MUPS internationally by using bibliometrics method. Methods The papers related to MUPS from inception to 2022-08-15 were searched based on Web of Science core collection databases from July to August in 2022. The bibliometric analysis was performed on the included papers in terms of publication volume trends and the distributions of authors, institutions and research areas after screening and data processing. CiteSpace 6.1R3 software was used to conduct visualization analysis on collaboration between countries or regions, document co-citation, keywords co-occurrence, keywords clustering, and keywords with bursts. Results A total of 1 615 papers were finally included, the number of annual publications in studies regarding MUPS showed an overall upward trend from 1985 to 2022, with the most rapid growth from 2014 to 2016. ROSMALEN J G M (43 papers), WITTHOFT M (41 papers) and RIEF W (31 papers) ranked the top three authors in terms of number of publications, and the total citations of the three scholars' papers also ranks in the top 10, with 954 times, 1 275 times and 1 339 times, respectively. The top three institutions in terms of number of publications were all from the UK, including University of London (143 papers), King's College London (95 papers) and University of Manchester (84 papers). The top three countries/regions in terms of number of publications were England (422 papers), the United States (341 papers), and Netherlands (268 papers), all of which cooperated closely with other countries. A total of 75 research areas were involved in all the literature, with most studies in psychiatry (605 papers). The literature co-citation network map includes 1 393 nodes and 6 108 connections, and the paper with the highest co-citation frequency was titled Somatoform Disorders and Medically Unexplained Symptoms in Primary Care. Except of "Medically unexplained symptoms", the top five keywords in terms of occurrence frequency were "primary care" (422 times), "somatoform disorder" (405 times), "somatization" (354 times), "prevalence" (217 times) and "depression" (211 times). A total of 12 clusters were obtained by keywords clustering analysis, reflecting in the subject category and epidemiological characteristics of MUPS, key subtypes of MUPS, main treatment methods and management of MUPS. Keyword with the highest intensity of burst was "somatic symptom disorder" "children" "bodily distress syndrome" "somatic symptom disorder" and "model" have burst in recent years and persisted till now. Conclusion At present, the publications of international studies regarding to MUPS show an upward stage, with research hotspots and trends mainly focus on the sutypes of MUPS with more researches, attention to juvenile groups and creation of effective communication models, correct evaluation and long-term management of MUPS, effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy for MUPS. |
