Photobiomodulation Science

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Published English-language literature

PBM research statistics

The PBM Database contains 10,028 English-language publications on photobiomodulation. The records cover 277 conditions across 24 medical specialties, 65 countries and three research-model groups.

Publications10,028English-language publications in the database (2026)
Conditions studied277conditions across 24 medical specialties
Countries65countries represented in the published literature

Source: PBM Database statistics and the WALT 2026 presentation. Publication and country totals are for 2026.

Publication counts over time

Cumulative publications

The database count rose from 166 publications in 1990 to 10,028 in 2026.

Photobiomodulation research over time

Cumulative publications represented in the database at selected years.

Cumulative photobiomodulation publication countsCounts: 166 in 1990, 406 in 1995, 592 in 2000, 929 in 2005, 1,694 in 2010, 3,089 in 2015, 5,514 in 2020 and 10,028 in 2026.02,5005,0007,50010,0001664065929291,6943,0895,51410,02819901995200020052010201520202026
Values show cumulative publications, not annual publication counts.Source: WALT presentation data and 2026 database total.

Countries represented

Publication counts by country

Counts for the 30 largest named groups are shown below. Earlier Brazil, United States, China and Iran totals are retained; the remaining balance is grouped as other countries.

Brazil
2,228
United States
983
China
768
Iran
664
Italy
377
Korea
377
Turkey
339
UK
319
Japan
310
India
290
Australia
251
Russia
212
Egypt
206
Taiwan
202
Germany
165
Israel
164
Spain
152
France
142
Canada
139
South Africa
134
Poland
125
Saudi Arabia
94
Austria
72
Norway
59
Belgium
56
Sweden
53
Netherlands
43
Portugal
41
Thailand
41
Syria
39
Other countries
983

The 30 named groups total 9,045 publications; other countries account for 983, bringing the chart to 10,028.

Study models

Publications by study model

The database groups publications as human research, animal experiments or in-vitro research.

Human studies

3,326 publications
Human

clinical and human research

Randomized, negative-control1,790
Randomized, positive-control140
Placebo-controlled1,572

Animal experiments

2,546 publications
Animal

preclinical research

Rat1,576Mouse631Rabbit157Dog72Pig27Hamster20Chicken / chick embryo19Guinea pig17Horse14Nonhuman primate10Fruit fly10Cattle10
17 additional species

Sheep (9); zebrafish, toad and cat (5 each); tree shrew (4); bumblebee and planarian (3 each); frog / tadpole, daphnia, earthworm and nematode (2 each); parakeet, ray, gerbil, honeybee, medaka and catfish (1 each).

Species counts can overlap when a publication includes more than one species.

In-vitro studies

1,733 publications
In vitro

cellular and laboratory research

Laboratory research records

The control-group counts are database categories and may overlap; they are not intended to sum to a unique-study total.

Review literature

Reviews in the database

Meta-analyses are included within the systematic-review count.

Narrative reviews1,080
Systematic reviews700
Including meta-analysis360

Research publication venues

PBM research appears in established journals

A working list from the PBM Database records hundreds of PBM papers in journals with impact factors of 3.0 or higher. This shows that PBM is part of mainstream scholarly publishing—not that every claim or treatment is proven.

450+articles in the working list
187journals listed at IF ≥ 3.0

The supplied journal list is incomplete and includes different publication types. Journal impact factor is a journal-level metric, not a measure of the quality or reliability of an individual study.

Examples across different kinds of research