Proposed therapeutic use of acupuncture for various medical problems has been demonstrated through traditional Chinese medicine over the years. Acupuncture practitioners insert very thin needles into specific anatomical locations to enhance the flow of “qi,” or energy within the body (
Vickers and Zollman, 1999). Utilization of acupuncture in addition to conventional medical therapies to relieve chronic pain and headaches has become popular in recent years and continues to gain popularity as a complementary approach for other types of diseases, including insomnia (
Kelly and Willis, 2019). Acupuncture appears to utilize nerve stimulation to activate endorphin and other substance release from the central nervous system that decreases pain perception and promotes a feeling of “well-being” (
Kawakita and Okada, 2014). The precise mechanism of how acupuncture produces its beneficial effects continues to be the focus of continuing and future research; however, current research evidence supports that acupuncture can also be effective and safe for anxiety, depression and hypertension
(Chen et al., 2023; Yang et al., 2021; Mihardja and Harja, 2021).
Acupuncture has developed as a valuable supplement to traditional veterinary medicine and can be used in conjunction with pharmacological therapies. It can help manage chronic pain and improving the overall quality of life for animals and humans (
Dewey and Xie, 2021). The philosophy of using acupuncture follows a similar principle to that of humans; therefore, veterinary acupuncture is adapted to the physiology of each animal, allowing for the use of acupoints for the most effective results. In addition to its success in treating musculoskeletal disorders, such as osteoarthritis and hip dysplasia, acupuncture has also been successfully utilized for treating neurological disorders, such as intervertebral disc disease and nerve injuries, in dogs and cats
(Silva et al., 2017; Choi and Hill, 2009).
Bibliometrics is an essential tool for analyzing scientific output, as it allows researchers to identify trends and assess the impact of research in specific fields. Through bibliometric analysis, researchers can detect knowledge gaps, visualize collaboration networks and determine which authors and journals have influence in a given area, thereby optimizing future research planning (
Thompson and Walker, 2015). In multidisciplinary or emerging fields, bibliometric analysis is particularly useful for contextualizing ongoing research and ensuring strategic allocation of resources to high-impact and relevant studies
(Ma et al., 2016). Consequently, bibliometric analyses have been conducted on the use of acupuncture in human medicine
(Kumar et al., 2022).
Veterinary acupuncture is becoming increasingly recognized as a valuable adjunct in treating animal pain, musculoskeletal and neurologic diseases and other aspects of animal health and welfare. Much of the existing veterinary acupuncture literature still remains disbursed among various species, modalities and research arenas; therefore, identifying the primary areas of development, the key contributors and future research avenues can be difficult. A comprehensive scientometric evaluation is necessary to portray the growth and current structure of the veterinary acupuncture research sector and to identify research voids that could provide directions for future veterinary clinical and scientific investigative efforts. Therefore, this study analyzed the status, trends and thematic evolution of publications on veterinary acupuncture between 2019 and 2024 using bibliometric analysis.
This bibliometric analysis used recommendations from the Reporting and Item Measurement Guidelines for Bibliometric or Scientometric Studies (
Mayta-Tovalino et al., 2024).
Ethical approval
The research was carried out in compliance with the current ethical regulations. The corresponding ethical approval was obtained before initiating the study.
Literature search
The literature search was performed using the Scopus database on August 21, 2024. A total of 100 articles, 22 book chapters, 18 reviews, 4 books, 1 note and 1 editorial were found. The only bibliographic database used in this study was Scopus because it provides wide-ranging multidisciplinary content with complete indexing of veterinary and complementary medicine literature and it also provides standardized bibliographic and citation information to facilitate scientometric analyses. Using only one bibliographic database allows for added consistency in the bibliographic records and citation metrics that will be utilized for the analyses of this study.
Study design
The study design was based on a systematic review of the available literature on acupuncture techniques and related therapies in the field.
Search formula
The following search strategy was applied: TITLE-ABS (“Acupuncture” OR “Dry needling” OR “Acupoint needling” OR “Auricular acupuncture” OR “Electroacupuncture” OR “Moxibustion” OR “Cupping” OR “Auriculotherapy” OR “Scalp acupuncture” OR “Trigger point needling” OR “Needle therapy” OR “Acupoint therapy” OR “Meridian therapy” ) AND SUBJAREA ( vete ) AND PUBYEAR > 2018 AND PUBYEAR < 2025.
Analysis in SciVal and R studio
The data acquired were analyzed using SciVal and R Studio software to test several trends and patterns regarding acupuncture and related therapies in the veterinary field. SciVal enabled collaboration and publication impact assessment, while R Studio provided statistical analysis and data visualization for a thorough understanding of the research dynamics in this domain.
Data analysis
Descriptive and comparative statistical analysis was conducted to identify areas of most concern and gaps in the existing literature. The results are presented graphically and in tables to enhance the presentation of these analyses. Growth rate of annual publication, age of average publication, number of average citations each paper received and field-weighted citation impact are among the metrics calculated. Moreover, international collaboration and author distribution were analyzed.
Between 2019 and 2024, 70 sources and 146 documents were analyzed, with an annual growth rate of -2.0%. The average document age was 2.2 years and the average number of citations per document was 2.2. A total of 6,267 references were recorded, while 1,753 Keywords Plus and 450 author keywords were identified. The dataset included 573 authors, of whom 24 contributed to single-authored documents. Overall, 27 single-authored documents were identified, with an average of 4.5 co-authors per document and 17.12% international co-authorship. The publications comprised 100 articles, 4 books and 18 reviews (Table 1).
A total of 31 different scholarly institutions worldwide were included in the analysis. Universidade de São Paulo showed the highest field-weighted citation impact (1.24), with 31 citations. Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho and the University of Florida each produced six publications and received 29 citations. Colorado State University published five papers and received 27 citations, with a citation impact of 5.4. Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná was the only institution among those listed that had received no citations and had no citation impact (Table 2).
When citations across the scientific journals were analyzed, Animals had an average of 3.8 citations per publication and a CiteScore of 4.9. Research in Veterinary Science showed an average of 5.5 citations per publication and a CiteScore of 4.4. No citation records were reported for Integrative Veterinary Medicine or Revista Academica Ciencia Animal (Table 3).
When author productivity was analyzed, Huisheng Xie, from the University of Florida, had an average of 3.6 citations per publication, an h-index of 12 and a total of 18 citations. Similarly, Tara Myers Harrison, from North Carolina State University, had an average of 1.3 citations per publication, an h-index of 11 and a total of 4 citations. In contrast, several authors affiliated with Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná had no citations for their publications (Table 4).
The CiteScore data over the years between 2019 and 2024 show a large range of differences in publication output across each quartile, with Q1 (34) exhibiting a significant increase in 2024 when there were eight (8) newly published papers; Q2 (35) was the highest quartile of output (
i.e., nine publications) in 2021 and Q3 with 19 total for the entire period. The highest number of published works for Q3 was in 2021 with six (6 ) and finally, Q4 had a total of 27 but saw a marked increase to sixteen (16) published works in 2023. In total, the authors have published 115 works throughout the past six years (Table 5).
According to a recent study examining the application of Bradford’s law to scholarly journals in veterinary medicine, three distinct zones of relevance were identified. Zone 1 comprised the core journals, including Revista Academica Ciencia Animal, with 12 articles; Integrative Veterinary Medicine, with 10 articles; and Animals, with 9 articles. Zone 2 comprised second-tier journals, including Equine Reproductive Procedures and Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, with four articles each. Finally, Zone 3 comprised numerous journals with a lower representation, including Veterinary Clinics of North America-Exotic Animal Practice and Veterinary Medicine International, each with one article (Fig 1).
This analysis used Lotka’s law, which states that for many scientific publishers, most published authors are contributing 1 paper, 92.7% of authors in this case. In the opposite direction, only 0.2% of the authors contributed more than 10 published papers, demonstrating that with the increase in the number of published papers, the number of productive authors decreased significantly (Fig 2).
Between 2019 and 2024, the thematic evolution of veterinary acupuncture research was characterized by the prominence of acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVm) and electroacupuncture across successive periods. During 2019/2020, acupuncture showed a weighted inclusivity index of 0.55 with 14 total inclusions, while Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine (TCVm) showed the same index (0.55) with 22 total inclusions. During 2021/2022, electroacupuncture showed a weighted inclusivity index of 0.53 with 9 total inclusions, whereas acupuncture showed an index of 0.55 with 22 total inclusions. During 2023-2024, electroacupuncture showed a weighted inclusivity index of 0.50 with 3 total inclusions. Overall, these patterns indicated a sustained thematic focus on acupuncture-related approaches in integrative veterinary medicine, particularly in relation to canine pain and quality of life (Fig 3).
When analyzing international scientific collaborations, it was noted that there had been collaboration between Brazil and: Portugal; Spain; and the USA, with the USA being the most common partner for Brazil. The greatest number of collaborations by the USA was with the UK; Canada; China; and Spain. China had numerous collaborations with Egypt and Pakistan. There were also many collaborations between Italy and Mexico, as well as between Korea and Australia (Fig 4).
There has been a significant increase in the number of studies published in veterinary medicine in the area of acupuncture within the last 5 years. This research presents an updated, comprehensive review of current research on acupuncture in veterinary medicine. Its goal is to provide a basis for future studies and help practitioners make informed decisions when developing therapeutic strategies. The results show that between the years 2019 and 2024, acupuncture received increased attention from researchers, with 573 people participating as authors on a total of 146 articles, averaging 2.29 citations per article and an annual decline rate of 2.09 percent. The leading countries in international collaboration in the field of veterinary acupuncture are the USA, China and Brazil, while the majority of research on veterinary acupuncture has been published in journals rated as the first quartile.
The Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Parana has become the leading institution for productivity in this area, as shown by a paper published at the institution that studied the effects of methadone applied at the Yin Tang acupoint (the best use of acupoint therapy on cats) and concluded, although there was no statistical significance for physical and behavioral symptoms; there were some mild sedative effects
(Bueno et al., 2023). On the other hand, the Universidade de Sao Paulo had the strongest impact, especially regarding dentistry (particularly
Ordinola-Zapata et al., 2020;
Mayta-Tovalino et al., 2023), which could suggest that veterinary acupuncture is a new and burgeoning topic of study in Brazil.
Revista Académica Ciencia Animal, with an emphasis on case studies involving the usage of acupuncture across various animal species, contains the most published documents regarding this subject matter
(De et al., 2023; Cidral et al., 2023). Research in Veterinary Science has the highest citation rate per article published and was therefore ranked highest among all veterinary journals
(Garg et al., 2021) in previous bibliometric analyses.
Huisheng Xie is a highly influential publishing author whose significant contribution includes investigating acupuncture treatments and testing the serological effects of the canine distemper vaccine using acupuncture point marker methods (
Perdrizet and Wang, 2019;
Wei and Estaben, 2022). As Xie’s significant publications on these subjects have achieved significant citation counts and wide-ranging recognition, his research has helped advance the field of veterinary acupuncture by significantly contributing to our knowledge in understanding this profession. Xie is also one of the three most prolific authors from Brazil, which demonstrates Brazil’s increasing prominence and impact on the veterinary acupuncture research community and its commitment to furthering the veterinary acupuncture industry.
Most articles on acupuncture in veterinary medicine were published in first- and second-quartile journals, highlighting the considerable interest and recognition of this topic within the scientific community. However, in 2023, most studies were published in fourth-quartile journals, likely due to the increased number of acupuncture-related articles published in
Revista Académica Ciencia Animal that year. By 2024, publication trends appear to have returned to a more typical distribution, with greater representation in higher-quartile journals, reflecting renewed emphasis on quality and visibility.
The period of the research study showed a steady increase in two of the most studied electroacupuncture and pain, as previously identified by ongoing similar studies
(Ribeiro et al., 2017). The other major subject that continued to appear consistently throughout this research period was the management of pain. This is probably due to the fact that one of the most common uses of acupuncture across a number of species of animals is for pain relief, thereby identifying its primary indication of application in various settings and reiterating the efficacy and versatility of this therapeutic modality (
Dusdal and Powell, 2021).
Many limitations exist in this research. The first limitation is that the search focused solely on articles from the Scopus database and only those from 2019 to 2024, which will leave out relevant articles found in other databases and published prior to 2019. However, limiting the searches to these recent years allowed us to examine the very newest and highest quality articles that had been indexed into Scopus
(Akash et al., 2021; Akhoon et al., 2025). Another limitation is that because of the limited amount of allowable time for citation accumulation after publication, there were likely many new articles published within this timeframe that are not represented in our citations and are not able to establish new or emerging patterns. Finally, we did not conduct a quality assessment of the included studies; there will likely be a variety of qualities of the studies represented among popular or emerging topics.
