Changes in urologic research from a new perspective: Text mining analysis of publication topics

• Published in: Investigative and clinical urology Vol. 66; no. 2; pp. 172 - 180
• Main Authors: Joo, Soohyung, Lu, Kun, Park, Jihwan, Rho, Mi Jung, Park, Yong Hyun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) The Korean Urological Association 01.03.2025; Korean Urological Association; 대한비뇨의학회
• Subjects: Bibliometrics; Biomedical Research - trends; Data Mining; Humans; Male; Original; Periodicals as Topic - trends; text mining; topic modelling; trend analysis; urology; Urology - trends; 비뇨기과학; Text mining; Research; Topic modelling; Urology; Trend analysis
• ISSN: 2466-0493; 2466-054X; 2466-054X
• DOI: 10.4111/icu.20240388

This study aimed to explore the trends in research keywords and topics in the field of urology based on text mining over the recent decades. The investigation looked into changes in frequent subject keywords and the trends in prevailing research topics, as reflected in representative urology journals over recent decades. A total of 27,129 bibliographic documents were collected from four urology journals, including , , , and . The study then examined the changes in the most frequent author keywords over the decades. Moreover, structured topic modeling was employed to identify twenty prevailing research topics in urology and to examine their trends across different periods. The study observed consistently increasing patterns in author keywords and topics related to the prostate and oncology. Conversely, research fields such as pediatrics, male infertility, voiding dysfunction, and cancer biology exhibited a downward trend in urology. Potential factors or reasons underlying these trends were further discussed in this study. This exploratory study uncovered major research topics in the discipline of urology. The findings of this study depict the domain of urology research in recent decades, providing insights for both researchers and clinicians seeking to better understand the research trends in the discipline.