Global research trends and hotspots in single-port robotic surgery in urology: a bibliometric analysis.

Single-port robotic surgery in urology has attracted increasing interest as robotic platforms and reduced-access techniques continue to evolve. However, the literature in this field remains dispersed across different procedures, disease settings, and research groups, and its overall knowledge structure has not been systematically characterised. This study aimed to evaluate the global research landscape, hotspot evolution, and developmental trajectory of single-port robotic surgery in urology using bibliometric methods. Publications related to single-port robotic surgery in urology were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection on March 18, 2026. Only English-language articles and review articles published between 2008 and 2025 were included. Bibliometric and visual analyses were performed using CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and SCImago Graphica to assess publication trends, leading countries, institutions, authors, journals, cited references, and keyword-based thematic evolution. A total of 259 publications were included. Annual research output showed an overall upward trend, with a more marked increase in recent years. The United States dominated the field in publication output, citation influence, and institutional and author-level centrality, while several other countries and centres made important but comparatively smaller contributions. The Cleveland Clinic Foundation was the most productive institution, and a relatively limited number of closely connected research teams accounted for a substantial proportion of the literature. The source and citation structures were centred mainly on core urology journals, indicating that the field remains strongly embedded in specialty-based clinical discourse. Keyword analyses showed a clear thematic shift from early single-incision, single-site, and laparoendoscopic single-site surgery-related exploration toward dedicated robotic platforms, prostate-related applications, and perioperative outcome-focused evaluation. Research on single-port robotic surgery in urology has expanded substantially and shows a clear evolution from early reduced-port technical exploration to more mature platform-based and procedure-specific investigation. Despite this progress, the current evidence base remains relatively concentrated in a limited number of countries, institutions, and research teams. This bibliometric study outlines the global knowledge structure and hotspot evolution of the field and highlights the need for broader collaboration, more standardised reporting, and higher-quality clinical evidence.