A bibliometric analysis of metaverse technologies in healthcare services

A bibliometric analysis was conducted to examine healthcare metaverse research using 3721 Web of Science publications covering the period 1994–2022. Using bibliometric and bibliographic link network analyses, this study aimed to uncover emerging trends, country and university contributions, author collaborations, and common metaverse themes. Contrary to expectations, inconsistent correlations between publication volume and citation impact emerged. This pioneering research evaluated empirical bibliometric laws, identified influential entities, and provided a structured thematic categorization for metaverse studies. Serving as the first comprehensive investigation of the healthcare metaverse, this study lays a solid foundation for subsequent research efforts and guides further scholarly research.