Global landscape and thematic evolution of glaucoma pharmacotherapy research (1996-2025): A bibliometric and science mapping analysis.

Abstract

This study aimed to quantify publication growth, research influence, leading contributors, collaboration patterns, citation classics and thematic evolution in glaucoma pharmacotherapy research from 1996 to 2025. Web of Science Core Collection was searched using a pharmacotherapy-focused query. Records primarily focused on laser trabeculoplasty, surgical procedures, or device-based interventions were excluded. Articles and review articles published from 1996 to 2025 were included. Performance indicators were calculated for countries and journals and highly cited papers. Science mapping was conducted using country and author collaboration networks and keyword cooccurrence analysis. The thematic evolution was assessed across three periods: 1996-2005, 2006-2015, and 2016-2025. Title-term burst detection was used to identify rapidly emerging topics. The search retrieved 7570 records and 6013 publications remained after filtering. Annual output increased from fewer than 100 publications per year in the late 1990s to more than 300 publications per year after 2018 with a peak slightly above 320 publications per year in the early 2020s. The United States led output with 1833 publications which is 30.5% of the dataset and it showed the highest collaboration strength with total link strength 3743. Japan contributed 544 publications and the United Kingdom contributed 427 publications. The top ten countries produced 4464 publications which is 74.3% of all publications. The top 20 journals accounted for 2579 publications which is 42.9% of the dataset. Ophthalmology recorded 12,715 citations and an h index of 64 within the corpus. The two most cited papers reached 2991 and 2134 citations. Keyword mapping showed a shift from drug comparison toward adherence and ocular surface tolerance and later toward delivery and newer mechanisms. Delivery showed the strongest burst strength at 68.7 and Netarsudil showed a burst strength of 54.3. The research on pharmacotherapy of glaucoma expanded at a rapid pace since 2018 and was still focused in a limited number of countries and journals. The citation influence was dominated by landmark clinical evidence, and the thematic focus relocated to long-term use, tolerability, and delivery innovation. The future research can be directed at the enhancement of persistence, ocular protection, and scalable sustained delivery strategies that decrease the number of daily drops.