Preoperative and intraoperative anxiety are closely related to perioperative treatment and disease prognosis of surgical patients. Reducing preoperative and intraoperative anxiety can greatly improve surgical efficacy. This study conducted a bibliometric analysis of both preoperative and intraoperative anxiety with the aim to summarize and make predictions in this field.A bibliometrics analysis was conducted.Bibliometric research methods were used to download literature information from the Web of Science database; the time span was from January 1, 2003 to September 13, 2023. HistCitePro software was used for statistical analysis, and Microsoft Excel 2021 (Microsoft Corporation) was used for data statistics and chart drawing. VOSviewer (Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), Leiden University), Pajek64, SCImago Graphica, and Rstudio were used for data visualization.538 articles were included in the analysis. Over the past 2 decades, the number of published articles has steadily increased, reaching 79 by 2020. The United States and its universities are leading research efforts on preoperative and intraoperative anxiety. Relevant journals in the four fields of anesthesia, pain, pediatrics, and nursing are the main journals in this direction. Studies on preoperative and intraoperative anxiety were divided into five categories, each replaced by different keywords. Over time, research on anxiety reduction has gradually shifted from diseases, surgical methods, and patient cognition to modern high-tech technologies such as music and virtual reality.Research on reducing preoperative and intraoperative anxiety is at an active stage. In the future, how to eliminate anxiety through high technology and modern technology will become a hot topic.Copyright © 2025 The American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.