Research Trends in Lung Organoids: Bibliometric Analysis and Visualization

Abstract

Abstract Background Lung organoids have emerged as a promising tool for studying lung development, function, and disease pathology. The present study aimed to analyze the current status and development trends of lung organoid research over the past years, present visual representations, and provide references for future research directions using bibliometric analysis. Methods Information on articles on lung organoids extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection, such as year of publication, journal, country, institution, author, and keywords, was analyzed. R, VOSviewer, and SCImago Graphica were used to visualize publication trends, co-authorship analysis, co-occurrence analysis, and hotspot evolution. Results The number of global publications has increased from 1 in 2011 to 512 in 2022. The cell produced the highest number of citations (2,069 citations). The United States (6,694 citations and 177 publications), University Medical Center Utrecht (2,060 citations and 9 publications), and Clevers H (2,570 citations and 15 publications) were the most influential countries, institutions, and authors, respectively. Co-occurrence cluster analysis of the top 54 keywords formed four clusters: (1) pulmonary fibrosis (PF), (2) lung cancer, (3) cystic fibrosis (CF), (4) coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Conclusion Organoid technology undoubtedly played an important role in the study of COVID-19, but with the passing of the COVID-19 epidemic, the research focus may return to refractory lung diseases such as PF, CF, and lung cancer. Standardized culture, living biobanks, and multimodal model systems for lung disease may be the future research directions in the field of lung organoids.