A bibliometric analysis of the robotic revolution in prostate cancer surgery: evolution, hotspots, and future directions

Abstract

This study employed bibliometric methods to delineate the evolutionary trajectory, core hotspots, and emerging fields of robotics in the surgical treatment of prostate cancer, aiming to provide a comprehensive cognitive framework for this area. Data were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database on July 19th, 2026. The search strategy focused on robot-assisted prostate cancer surgery treatment, covering the period from database inception to December 2025. Literature types were restricted to Articles and Reviews, and the language was limited to English. The selected literature was subsequently imported into CiteSpace 7.0, VOSviewer 1.6.20, Bibliometrix 5.4.0, and Scimago Graphica Beta 1.0.53 software for visualization. A total of 3512 publications were identified. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria and software deduplication, 2862 publications were ultimately included. From 2000 to 2025, the annual number of publications in this field grew at an annual growth a rate of 25.79%. The USA, Italy, and China represented the primary contributing countries in this domain. Montorsi M, Menon M, and Van Der Poel HG were recognized as the leading authors in this field. The “BJU INTERNATIONAL” and “EUROPEAN UROLOGY” serve as the primary academic platforms for publication and citation in this area. Keyword co-occurrence analysis revealed that “prostate cancer,” “radical prostatectomy,” and “prostatectomy” were the predominant high-frequency keywords. Advance in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may represent a novel approach to technological integration, thereby fostering the future development of robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP), which significantly impacts surgical decision-making for prostate cancer and has been integrated into clinical guidelines to inform practice. Nevertheless, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are still needed to provide high-level evidence and to incorporate emerging technologies to guide clinical practice more comprehensively.