Research hotspots and emerging trends of 3D printing in bone defects: a bibliometric analysis based on Web of Science core collection from 2006 to March 2026.

Bone defects continue to pose a significant challenge in orthopedic and reconstructive surgery, especially when presenting as large, irregular, infected, or load-bearing lesions. The advent of three-dimensional (3D) printing has opened new avenues for customized bone repair, offering precise anatomical restoration, tunable porous architectures, mechanical support, and biological functionalization. Nevertheless, the global research landscape, intellectual framework, and emerging frontiers of 3D printing applied to bone defects have yet to be systematically characterized.Bibliometric records were retrieved from the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) within the Web of Science Core Collection for publications from January 1, 2006, to March 15, 2026. PubMed was searched separately as a supplementary source to identify relevant clinical trials and randomized controlled trials. Bibliometric and visualization analyses were subsequently performed using VOSviewer, R Software, and CiteSpace. The analyses focused on publication output over time, country and institutional contributions, author productivity, journal impact, keyword evolution, and trends in clinical translation. A total of 7233 relevant publications were identified in this study, revealing a consistent upward trend in annual output. China and the United States were the predominant contributors in this research domain. Leading institutions included Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Sichuan University. Wu, CT emerged as the most prolific author with 62 publications, while Bose, S demonstrated the highest co-citation frequency (1,290 citations). Regarding journals, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology recorded the largest number of publications, and Biomaterials ranked first in co-citation count. Analysis of research hotspots indicated that clinical trials primarily evaluated the efficacy of 3D-printed bone materials for the reconstruction of various bone defects. Meanwhile, basic science investigations focused on artificial intelligence, oxidative stress, antibacterial properties, macrophage polarization, and advanced scaffold functionalization. Over the past two decades, recent research attention has increasingly shifted from scaffold fabrication and material optimization toward intelligent design, immune-related research, antibacterial functionalization, and more application-specific scaffold development. Future efforts should prioritize mechanistic studies, clinically relevant defect models, multicenter trials, and problem-oriented scaffold engineering to facilitate reliable clinical translation.