Global mapping of physical therapy research in pregnancy with thematic evolution and emerging trends

Physical therapy plays a central role in supporting the well-being of pregnant women by addressing musculoskeletal issues and preparing the body for childbirth. This study aims to conduct bibliometric analyses and thematic evaluation of physical therapy and pregnancy (PHY-PRE) research area. A bibliometric analysis was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines on 887 original research articles retrieved from the Scopus database. Eligible studies were published in English between 1948 and 2023. Bibliographic data were exported in CSV and BibTeX formats and analyzed using Bibliometrix (R), VOSviewer, and Scopus Analytics. The analysis comprised performance indicators, co-authorship networks, thematic evolution, strategic mapping, and identification of emerging and trending research topics. The analysis revealed that PHY-PRE is a multidisciplinary research area that exhibited polynomial growth (R2 = 0.81) between 1948 and 2023. The number of scientists in this field was lower than that of institutes and countries contributing to PHY-PRE knowledge. The United States accounted for 17.61% of the total research production. International co-authorship decreased to 11.98%, indicating the need for expanded research collaboration. The total number of citations for PHY-PRE studies was 14,968, with an H-index of 50. Trending topics in PHY-PRE research included decision-making, coronavirus disease 2019, consensus, myasthenia gravis, neck pain, and shoulder pain. Thematic mapping identified four themes in PHY-PRE literature, with pregnancy,” “MRI,” “case reports,” “knowledge,” and “cerebral palsy” emerging as the most prominent research themes. The findings of this study contribute to multiple disciplines by providing new information and highlighting the diversity of PHY-PRE studies.