94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neurorehabilitation
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1531127
This article is part of the Research Topic Socio-Legal, Ethical, Technical and Medical Considerations on Neuroprivacy and Brain-Machine Interaction Technologies in the era of A.I. View all 10 articles
Two Decades of Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Stroke: A Bibliometric Analysis
Provisionally accepted- 1 Changzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Changzhou, China
- 2 Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, East Flanders, Belgium
- 3 Stroke Biological Recovery Laboratory, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Background: Stroke is a major global health concern, imposing significant medical and social burdens. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), an emerging neuromodulation technology, has shown potential in the treatment of stroke. This bibliometric analysis aims to explore the knowledge structure and research trends in the field of VNS for stroke from 2004 to 2024. Methods: Publications were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. CiteSpace and VOSviewer were used to conduct bibliometric analyses, including author productivity, institutional contributions, and emerging research themes etc. Results: A total of 191 eligible publications were analysed. Kilgard, MP., and Hays, SA. were the most prolific authors, each contributing 26 publications. The USA (96 publications), China (69 publications), and Scotland (17 publications) were the most prolific countries. The University of Texas at Dallas (33 publications) was the most prolific institution, followed by Chongqing Medical University (19 publications) and the University of Glasgow (15 publications). Future research is expected to focus on: 1) neurophysiological mechanisms of VNS in stroke recovery; 2) synergistic effects of VNS with other rehabilitation therapies; 3) comparative efficacy of non-invasive transauricular VNS versus invasive VNS; 4) safety and effectiveness of VNS for poststroke functional impairments beyond motor rehabilitation; and 5) optimisation of VNS parameters for stroke treatment. Conclusions: The field of VNS for stroke has experienced steady growth over the past two decades. This bibliometric analysis provides valuable insights to guide future research, clinical applications, and policy developments.
Keywords: bibliometric analysis, Vagus Nerve Stimulation, stroke Rank Author Quantity ACI TLS, taVNS, Stroke
Received: 19 Nov 2024; Accepted: 21 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Deng, Yang, Wang and Lu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jiao Deng, Changzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Changzhou, China
Zhigang Lu, Changzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Changzhou, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.