Network analysis of neurosurgical literature: an increased focus on training during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic led to stringent guidelines to restrict the conduct of non-emergent surgical procedures. Consequently, neurosurgery departments experienced a decline in case volumes and greater educational time being spent on virtual research projects. In our report, we reveal how neurosurgical research has changed during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic phase. The WebOfScience database was searched for neurosurgical articles published between 2012-2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2020-2022 (pandemic). From this data, the keywords, terms, and countries were analyzed using networks formed by the VOS Viewer software. In addition, the analysis was repeated for neurosurgical articles specific to COVID-19. Network analyses of terms and keywords revealed an increased popularity of virtual research projects, including case reports, meta-analyses, reviews, surveys, and database studies. Additionally, there was increased interest in research pertaining to neurosurgical education during the post-pandemic era, including topics regarding virtual training modalities, mental health, and telemedicine. Our bibliometrics analysis suggests that the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on hospital systems affected neurosurgical training programs. Future investigations should explore the effects of the trainee experience during the COVID-19 pandemic on the outlook for neurosurgical education.