Letter to the Editor
Scientific research on orthopedics in Colombia over the last decade: a brief exploratory bibliometric analysis based on data from Web of Science
Producción científica sobre ortopedia en Colombia durante la última década: un breve análisis bibliométrico exploratorio con base en datos de Web of Science
Juan Santiago Serna-Trejos1
Stefanya Geraldine Bermúdez-Moyano2 Carlos Andrés Castro-Galvis3
1 Universidad ICESI, Cali, Colombia.
2 Universidad Santiago de Cali, Cali, Colombia.
3 Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Cali, Colombia.
Open access
Received: 27/01/2025
Accepted: 24/02/2026
Corresponding author: Juan Santiago Serna-Trejos. Universidad ICESI. Cali, Colombia. E-mail: juansantiagosernatrejos@gmail.com.
How to cite: Serna-Trejos JS, Bermúdez-Moyano SG, Castro-GalvisCA. Scientific research on orthopedics in Colombia over the last decade: a brief exploratory bibliometric analysis based on data from Web of Science. Rev. colomb. ortop. traumatol. 2026;40:e572. English. https://doi.org/10.58814/01208845.572
Cómo citar: Serna-Trejos JS, Bermúdez-Moyano SG, Castro-GalvisCA. [Producción científica sobre ortopedia en Colombia durante la última década: un breve análisis bibliométrico exploratorio con base en datos de Web of Science]. Rev. colomb. ortop. traumatol. 2026;40:e572. English. https://doi.org/10.58814/01208845.572
Keywords: Orthopedics; Orthopedic Procedures; Colombia; Bibliometrics (MeSH).
Palabras clave: Ortopedia; Procedimientos Ortopédicos; Colombia; Bibliometría (DeCS).
Copyright: ©2026 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original author and source are credited.
Dear editor,
Biometric analysis of orthopedic scientific production in Colombia is essential to understand the current state of this specialty in the country. It helps guide significant advances in this field, as well as identify emerging research topics and gaps in knowledge. In addition, studying biometric analysis facilitates the formulation of relevant research questions adapted to the local context.1-5 This type of analysis also makes it possible to acknowledge author networks, allowing the recognition of potential collaborations between researchers, institutions and countries.1
Moreover, we aimed to explore the scientific production in orthopedics in Colombia between 2015 and 2024 (defined as articles published by authors with at least one affiliation with a Colombian institution during this period). We propose an exploratory bibliometric analysis using data available in Web of Science applying the following search strategy: (((TS=(Orthopedics)) OR TS=(Orthopedic Procedures)) AND TS=(Colombia)) AND PY=(2015-2024). Statistical analysis of the data was performed using RStudio; Bibliometrics and Biblioshine. A total of 100 publications were identified, of which 83% corresponded to original articles and 17% to systematic and literature reviews. Table 1 presents the overall characteristics of the publications found.
The most frequent topics published during the study period (2015-2024) were, in descending order of frequency, enzyme replacement therapy, total arthroplasty, septic arthritis, hydroxyapatite, femoroacetabular impingement, intervertebral disc, radiation dose, anterior cruciate ligament, and pulmonary embolism (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Most frequent topics in orthopedic publications indexed in Web of Science (2015-2024)
Source: Own elaboration.
Note: The search strategy applied did not allow differentiation between human orthopedics and veterinary orthopedics. One of the most frequent topics corresponded to veterinary medicine (cranial cruciate ligament). This aspect should be considered in future bibliometric analyses in Web of Science to improve the accuracy of the search strategy.
Regarding year of publication, 2021 and 2024 were the years with the highest number of published documents (14 and 19 publications, respectively), whereas 2017 showed the lowest scientific production, with only 3 publications (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Annual scientific production on orthopedics in Colombia indexed in Web of Science (2015-2025).
Source: Own elaboration.
The journals with the highest number of publications were International Journal of Spine Surgery and Revista MVZ Cordoba, with 5 and 4, respectively (Figure 3). In terms of author affiliations, Universidad Nacional de Colombia was the most frequent institution (20 publications with at least one affiliated author), followed by Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (16 publications), and the Universidad CES (13 publications). Finally, the most frequently used keywords were growth (6 articles), management (6 articles), and diagnosis (5 articles) (Figure 4).
Figure 3. Most frequent publication sources in orthopedic research indexed in Web of Science (2014-2025)
Source: Own elaboration.
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Figure 4. Most frequently used keywords in orthopedic publications indexed in Web of Science (2014-2025)
Source: Own elaboration.
Even though Web of Science is one of the most important databases worldwide due to its extensive journal indexing,4,5 peer-reviewed content, and the availability of detailed bibliographic information for each publication,6,7 it is necessary to perform a bibliometric analysis on a larger scale, including additional databases and search engines such as PubMed/PubMed Central, Scopus, Redalyc, Google Scholar, and SciELO. In this regard, the bibliometric analysis presented above has limitations, such as relying on a single database and using a search equation that does not exclude publications on veterinary orthopedics; these aspects should be taken into account in future research. Although the present analysis provides an approximation to the characterization of orthopedics scientific production in Colombia, a broader search including multiple sources would provide a more comprehensive overview of orthopedic and orthopedic surgery research in the country. Such an approach, in line with the arguments presented above, would benefit professionals in these medical fields by supporting the development of relevant research according to the local context, facilitating continuous updating of medical knowledge, and enabling the analysis of academic collaboration networks.
Table 1. Overall characteristics of the scientific production on orthopedics in Colombia published between 2015 and 2024.
|
Characteristics |
n |
|
Total publications on orthopedics with Colombian authors published between 2015 and 2024 and indexed in WoS |
100 |
|
Number of sources (journals, books, etc.) |
71 |
|
Annual growth rate (%) |
11,73 |
|
Average years since publication |
4,45 years |
|
Average citation per document |
12,94 |
|
Total number of references |
4306 |
|
Total number of keywords in all documents |
344 |
|
Total number of Keywords Plus terms in all documentsa |
415 |
|
Number of authors |
732 |
|
Single-authored documents |
0 |
|
Average number of co-Authors per document |
8,18 |
|
Proportion of documents with international collaboration (%) |
61 |
|
Document type (n=100) |
|
|
Original articles |
83 |
|
Articles; early access |
1 |
|
Editorial material |
1 |
|
Letters to the editor/correspondence |
1 |
|
Review |
14 |
Source: Own elaboration.
Conflicts of interest
None stated by the authors.
Funding
None stated by the authors.
Acknowledgments
None stated by the authors.
Use of Artificial Intelligence
None reported by the authors.
References
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