In Fig. 1, spanning the period from 2009 to 2023, a total of 523 studies were identified within the WoS Core Collection. Following a comprehensive review of full articles, 8 non-English publications and 36 publications in other formats were excluded. Ultimately, a corpus of 479 studies on the application of music therapy in surgical settings was compiled, comprising 342 articles and 137 reviews. The yearly distribution of publications is depicted in Fig. 2, revealing a consistent upward trajectory from 2009 onwards, peaking in 2021 before experiencing a modest decline between 2022 and 2023. This trend underscores the sustained and enduring attention accorded to this subject matter over the years. Notably, the highest number of published articles (n = 67) was recorded in 2021. The decline in publications after 2021 may be attributed to several factors, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which shifted research priorities and resources, and possible delays in the peer-review and publication process. Additionally, changes in funding allocation and a natural shift in research focus toward emerging technologies, such as virtual reality or artificial intelligence, may have contributed to this trend. These factors warrant further investigation to better understand their influence on research activity in this field.

Annual output of research on the application of music therapy in surgery

To explore the prominent contributors in this field, an analysis of the distribution of publications by countries and institutions was conducted. Table 1 reveals that among 61 countries, the USA holds the highest number of publications (n = 152, 31.7%), followed by China (85, 17.7%) and Italy (48, 10%). Together, the publications from these top three countries represent over half of the total (n = 285, 59.5%), while the remaining countries contribute less than 10% of the total publications. These findings underscore the leading role of the USA in music therapy research. These remarkable advancements can be largely attributed to the strong institutional support provided by both the USA and China, including favorable policies and substantial financial funding. Such support has enabled extensive and in-depth research in this field. Additionally, other contributing factors may include the increasing emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration and the growing recognition of music therapy’s potential to improve surgical outcomes, which collectively drive innovation and progress in this area.

Collaborative networks among various countries were visualized using VOSviewer. In the visualization map, each color corresponds to a distinct cluster, the size of the nodes represents the volume of publications, and the thickness of the links signifies the strength of collaborative interactions. As illustrated in Fig. 3, the USA engages in active collaboration with numerous countries, including England, Germany, Italy, China, and the Netherlands. Further analysis revealed that these articles were contributed by a total of 948 institutions. Figure 4 visually depicts the collaborative network, illustrating the quantity and interrelationships of publications from each institution.

A network map showing countries involved in research on the application of music therapy in surgery

A network map showing institutions involved in research on the application of music therapy in surgery

A total of 479 studies included in our bibliometric analysis were distributed across 283 journals. Table 2 presents the top 10 journals and co-cited journals in the research field of music therapy applied in surgery. The most prolific journal was Journal of Perianesthesia Nursing (n = 17, 3.5%), followed by Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice (n = 11, 2.3%) and Journal of Clinical Nursing (n = 10, 2.1%). Analysis of co-cited journals using VOSviewer revealed that the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews had the highest co-citation count (309), followed by the Journal of Clinical Nursing (286), and the Journal of Music Theory (272). Figure 5 displays the network of journals (Fig. 5A) and co-cited journals (Fig. 5B). The thickness of the lines between the two items indicates the strength with which they cited each other. The significant co-citation count signifies the journals with the most significant academic influence in the field, with the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews holding key positions in this research domain.

Visualization of journals (A) and co-cited journals (B) in research on the application of music therapy in surgery

CiteSpace software was utilized to visually depict the dual-map overlaps of the journals and co-cited journals. Each color corresponds to a specific discipline associated with a journal, while the curves illustrate the citation pathways. The thickness of each curve indicates the frequency of cross-disciplinary citations, with thicker curves signifying stronger connections and closer interactions between the respective fields. As illustrated in Fig. 6, four main citation trajectories were identified, journals in medicine/medical/clinical are mainly cited by Health/Nursing/Medicine, Psychology/Education/Social and Psychology/Education/Social and Molecular/Biology/Genetics fields. Additionally, journals in Psychology/Education/Health are mainly influenced by journals in Health/Nursing/Medicine fields.

Dual-map overlay of journals in research on the application of music therapy in surgery

A total of 2433 authors contributed to the 479 selected publications. Author Cao Hua published the highest number of studies (n = 8), followed by Chen Qiang (n = 8), Johannes Jeekel (n = 6), and David C. Miller (n = 5). There were a total of 14,184 co-cited authors, Among them, Nilsson U (n = 131) and Bradt J (n = 125) emerged as the top two co-cited authors. A cooperative network based on authors and co-cited authors was constructed using VOSviewer (Fig. 7). The varying colors of the circles represent distinct clusters of authors or groups of co-cited authors. The thickness of the lines reflects the strength of the relationships, with thicker lines indicating stronger connections. The network map illustrates authors who have demonstrated high levels of cooperation in their productivity, forming distinct clusters.

Visualization of authors (A) and co-cited authors (B) in research on the application of music therapy in surgery

Over the past 16 years, there have been 17,738 co-cited references related to the application of music therapy in surgery. Table 3 presents the top 10 co-cited references in this area, with seven references being co-cited more than 30 times. Figure 8 illustrates the co-citation network map based on selected references co-cited 10 times or more, resulting in 4 clusters (105 items). “nilsson Ulrica, 2008, AORN J” demonstrates active co-cited relationships with “sendelbach se, 2006, J CARDIOV”, and “allred kd, 2010, PAIN MANAG NURS” etc.

Visualization of co-cited references in research on the application of music therapy in surgery

In Fig. 9, by using CiteSpace, we present 14 references that exhibited the most significant citation bursts in our study. The initial occurrence of a citation burst was observed as early as 2009, the burst strength of these references ranged from 2.78 to 8.15, with endurance strength from 2 to 5 years. Notably, The reference with the strongest citation burst (strength = 8.15) was titled “Meta-analysis evaluating music interventions for anxiety and pain in surgery” published in the British Journal of Surgery by A Y R Kühlmann et al. with citation bursts spanning from 2009 to 2013. Table 4 presents a concise overview of the principal research themes delineated across the 14 references, arranged in accordance with the sequence depicted in Fig. 9 of the literature.

Top 14 references with strong citation bursts. A red bar indicates high citations in that year

The results of the keywords analysis revealed the research hotspots within the field. Table 5 presents the top 10 keywords with the strongest citation bursts from 2009 to 2023. Notably, “anxiety” received the most sustained attention (counts = 171), followed closely by “therapy” (counts = 149), “music therapy” (counts = 147), “pain” (counts = 127), and “music” (counts = 116). Keywords with counts lower than 100 were observed for the remaining terms. Furthermore, we filtered all keywords with a minimum occurrence of 10 and conducted cluster analysis using VOSviewer. This process yielded five major clusters, indicating five distinct research fields (Fig. 10A).

Keyword cluster analysis (A) and trend topic analysis (B)

Additionally, we utilized the online bibliometrics website (https://bibliometric.com/) to further explore the trending topics. The results indicated that from 2020 to 2023, research during this period predominantly focused on music therapy, indicating a potential future research direction (Fig. 10B).