Knowledge mapping and emerging trends in nursing care for laparoscopic, endoscopic, and robotic surgery: A bibliometric analysis (2015–2025)

Objective Despite the rapid growth of publications in the field of laparoscopic, endoscopic, and robotic surgery (LERS), the overall knowledge structure and evolutionary trends of nursing care in this field remain unclear. This bibliometric analysis aims to systematically review the research progress in this field, identify research hotspots and frontier trends, and explore the in-depth practice of nursing practice in LERS. Methods A bibliometric analysis was performed using the Web of Science Core Collection. All original research articles or review articles in nursing care for LERS published between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2025 were analyzed. Titles and abstracts were independently screened by two reviewers. CiteSpace 7.0.0 was employed for keyword clustering and citation burst detection to identify research hotspots and emerging frontiers. Results A total of 904 publications were included in the final analysis. The annual publication output showed an increasing trend. The most prolific country was China (264, 29.2%), and the Journal of Perianesthesia Nursing (54, 6.0%) was the leading journal. Keyword clustering revealed major research themes including “enhanced recovery after surgery”, “robotic surgery”, “quality of life”, “perioperative anxiety”, and “non-pharmacological interventions”. Citation burst analysis revealed “laparoscopic surgery”, “enhanced recovery”, “colorectal cancer”, “prostate cancer”, “robotic-assisted surgery”, “laporoscopic cholecystectomy”, “anxiety” and “postoperative care” as ongoing frontier topics extending into 2026. Highly cited papers highlight the importance of perioperative comfort, non-pharmacological symptom management, and teamwork in the operating room. Conclusion The interpretive synthesis of the bibliometric clusters suggests that LERS nursing research has evolved from single symptom management to an integrated “technology-humanism-system” model. Future research should focus on systematic enhanced recovery after surgical implementation, standardized training for the role of robotic scrabbing, the mitigation of technostress, and evidence-based integration of artificial intelligence and nursing robotics into perioperative care.