The evolving landscape of frailty research in geriatric surgery: A bibliometric analysis

Küçükakça Çelik G., TAYLAN S.

Perioperative Care and Operating Room Management, cilt.44, 2026 (ESCI, Scopus)

Özet

Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate frailty research in geriatric surgery through bibliometric analysis and to provide a structured, macroscopic overview of the characteristics and development of this field of research. Design: A bibliometric analysis. Methods: The bibliometric analysis was conducted using data retrieved from the Web of Science database on October 1, 2024, without any year limitation. The analysis was performed using the “biblioshiny” application available in the Bibliometrix R package. Findings: A total of 2216 articles were published in 696 sources between 1993 and 2024. Leading journals include the Journal of Geriatric Oncology, EJSO, BMC Geriatrics, Journal of Surgical Research, and BMJ Open. Based on Bradford's law, 34 journals were identified as belonging to the core region. The most prolific authors included Joseph B, Shahrokni A, Cooper Z, and Khadaroo RG. According to Lotka's law, 82.6% of authors contributed only one article. Key research focuses include mortality, frailty, outcomes, and geriatric patients, while gaps exist in research on predictors, hip fractures, non-cardiac surgery, gait speed, and comorbidity. The United States, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the Netherlands were the leading countries in terms of publication output. Conclusions: This study provides a structured overview of the evolution and characteristics of frailty research in geriatric surgery.