603: Global Status and Trend Characteristics of Pain Science Education:A Bibliometric and Visual Analysis

Topic: Education, Societal Impact, and Others
Subtopic: Education

Background and Aims: Pain science education has evolved over more than two decades. This study employs bibliometric and visual analysis to examine the developmental trajectory and current global landscape of research in related fields of pain science education. By exploring future trends and characteristics, we aim to provide new insights for the advancement of pain education worldwide.

Methods: Relevant publications in the field of pain science education were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database on July 5, 2025. The bibliographic data were then imported into CiteSpace and VOSviewer for analysis. Through the generation of network maps, we conducted a visual analysis of key metrics including publication volume, authors, journals, countries/regions, institutions, and keywords. This approach enabled us to delineate the knowledge base and identify emerging frontiers in this research domain.

Results: a total of 384 publications were included, of which original research articles accounted for 83.33%. The United States, Belgium, and Spain were the three most prolific countries, with the United States dominating the field (75 publications). Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium emerged as an international academic center in this research domain (143 publications), and Professor J. Nijs from this institution was the most productive author (50 publications). Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, the official journal of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association, was the most prolific journal (40 publications). The most highly cited article was Moseley GL, 2015, in J PAIN (543 co-citations).

Conclusions: This study represents the first global bibliometric analysis of the pain science education literature. The findings indicate that pain science education research is currently in a phase of rapid growth worldwide. Current research hotspots primarily focus on chronic pain conditions (e.g., chronic low back pain, chronic musculoskeletal pain), manual therapy, physiotherapy/physical therapy, pain management, and functional disability. Enhancing and validating the clinical efficacy of pain science education may represent a future research direction.

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Presenting Author: Xueguang Zhang
Submitting Author: Xueguang Zhang

Senior Author: Li Song

IASP 2026 Global Year theme of Neuropathic Pain: No

• Xiaoyu Shu - West China Hospital, Sichuan University
• Xue Huang - West China Hospital, Sichuan University
• Dongmei Yuan - West China Hospital, Sichuan University
• Li Song - West China Hospital, Sichuan University