Papers of the Week

Pain, especially chronic pain, is a leading cause of individuals seeking medical attention and presents a significant public health challenge due to its widespread prevalence and associated healthcare costs. Nanomedicine has shown considerable potential in pain management research. However, there is a lack of comprehensive bibliometric and trend analyses that explore the current status, research hotspots, and future directions of nanomedicine applications in pain. To fill this gap, we analyzed English language publications related to nanomedicine and pain from the Web of Science Core Collection, spanning the period from January 1, 1999, to May 24, 2024. The analysis focused on publication trends, contributions by countries/regions, institutions, journals, research categories, prominent authors, key references, and keywords. A total of 2370 papers were included. China leads in the number of published papers (785, 33.12%) and hosts numerous high-output institutions and funding agencies, followed by the USA. The International Journal of Pharmaceutics emerged as the leading journal in terms of publication volume. A clear interdisciplinary platform has been established between nanomedicine and the field of pain. “Nanoparticles” and “drug delivery” were identified as high-frequency keywords. The drug delivery systems for pain treatment were considered the main research hotspots, particularly for chronic pain. The keyword citation bursts indicate that the pain of biomarker monitoring is a future trend. The application of nanomedicine in pain has advanced rapidly. Increased funding and international collaboration are necessary with future potential to expand from pain treatment to monitoring and diagnosis.