Publications and ranking in orthopaedics and sports medicine of European countries during the last three decades: A bibliometric analysis

Introduction: The present investigation examined the trend of publications and ranking in Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine of European countries during the years 1996 to 2022 and compared these with all the regions globally. Methods: In September 2023, the SCOPUS data of publications in Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine from the SCImago Journal & Country Rank website were retrieved. All the data from Western and Eastern Europe were extracted from the overall data of the global countries and merged into Excel files, for each of the years 1996-2022 and 2022. Results: Western European countries contributed significantly to the global share of publications in Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine with nearly 1/3rd of the total publications. Eastern European countries' contribution was minimal to the global publications and was almost 10 times less than the Western European countries. The total number of publications in the area of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine from 1996 to 2022 at the European scale was led by the United Kingdom ( N = 51510) and has maintained its supremacy until recently, in 2022. Amongst Western European countries, during the cumulative period of 1996-2022, the maximum contributions were made by the United Kingdom ( N = 51510), and also in 2022, the United Kingdom contributed maximally ( N = 3339). In the cumulative period of 1996-2022, Poland contributed maximally ( N = 4049) among the Eastern European countries. In 2022, the maximum contribution from the Eastern European countries came from the Russian Federation ( N = 462). Conclusion: The European continent is the major contributor to Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine research and publications, with almost 1/3rd of the global share of publications. Western European countries are far ahead in their contributions than Eastern European countries.