Two Decades of Diabetic Neuropathy Research: A Bibliometric and VOSviewer Network Analysis of PubMed Publications

Background and Aims: Diabetic neuropathy (DN) is the most prevalent chronic complication of diabetes mellitus and a major cause of nontraumatic lower-limb amputation. Despite increasing research activity, the structural dynamics, thematic evolution, collaboration patterns, and institutional landscape of DN research remain incompletely characterized. This study aimed to map global DN research using bibliometric and network visualization analyses of PubMed-indexed publications from 2000 to 2025.

Methods

A systematic PubMed search using MeSH and free-text terms identified 11,405 eligible publications. Annual publication trends were assessed, and VOSviewer v1.6.20 was used for author co-authorship, keyword co-occurrence, and institutional collaboration analyses. Modularity-based clustering identified major research themes.