Hotspots in Traditional Chinese Medicine for osteoporotic fracture treatment from 2014 to 2024: A bibliometric analysis

• Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) osteoporotic fracture research shows rising global citations. • China leads the global TCM herbal medicine research in osteoporotic fracture research. • International collaboration is an emerging trend between China and other countries. • Multi-herb TCM formulas outperform single-agent therapies in clinical trials. • Clustering analysis shows focus on kidney-tonifying and liver-nourishing herbal formulas. The growing global aging population has led to an increase in osteoporotic fractures (OPF), drawing significant attention. Despite the growing body of research, bibliometric evaluations of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and OPF are scarce. This study used bibliometric and visual analyses to track research trends, identify hotspots, and predict future frontiers at the intersection of OPF and TCM. Bibliographic data were obtained from the Web of Science (WOS) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases. The searches covered OPF and TCM publications from September 15, 2014, to September 15, 2024. Visual analyses of publication volume, countries, institutions, authors, journals, and keywords in this domain were conducted using VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and the Bibliometrix R Package. After screening, 314 WOS and 693 CNKI publications were selected for investigation. China led global OPF and TCM research with the most publications. Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine published the highest number of studies and played a central role in this field. Notable authors included Wei Xu, Jeong Seon-yong, Kim Jeonghyun, and Park Eunkuk. The WOS database had keywords including “osteoporosis (OP),” “fracture,” “bone-mineral density,” “postmenopausal women,” “differentiation,” “risk,” “bone,” and “osteoblast.” CNKI database terms included “OP,” “TCM,” “bone density,” “clinical efficacy,” and “bone metabolism.” Important clustering topics were “active ingredients,” “TCM,” “apoptosis,” “ovariectomized mice,” and “osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures.” This study conducted a bibliometric and visual analysis of the relationship between TCM and OPF, identifying promising research areas for treatment. As research progresses, TCM is attracting increasing attention from researchers studying OPF treatments. The integration of TCM theories has paved the way for their clinical application in science.