Characterization of research trends and prospects on hepatic echinococcosis over the past forty years: a bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Background: The distribution of hepatic echinococcosis (HE) is extensive, significantly impacting public health and economic development. Therefore, analyzing global collaboration networks and tracking developmental trends over the past four decades are crucial. This study aimed to demonstrate collaboration in the field of HE and explore key topics and future directions. Materials and Methods: Bibliometric analyses were conducted using CiteSpace, Bibliometrix package of R, and VOSviewer software on HE-related studies from the Web of Science Core Collection published before August 1, 2023. Results: This study identified 2,605 records published in 196 journals by 9,860 authors from 2,607 institutes in 90 countries. Publications significantly notably increased in 2021. Developing countries like Turkey and China made notable contributions, while developed countries like the USA had higher average citation rates. The largest nodes in every cluster of the collaboration network were Hacettepe University, Tehran University, Xinjiang Medical University, Salford University, and the University of Pavia, and the top-producing authors were Wen H, Vuitton DA, Gottstein B, and Craig PS. Keyword co-occurrence analysis suggested that surgical techniques and novel drugs targeting combined immune checkpoints are the main therapeutic approaches in the future. Conclusion: Although developing countries had significantly contributed to publications on HE, the citation rate for individual articles from developed countries was significantly higher. Additionally, advancements in surgical techniques and novel drugs targeting combined immune checkpoints may emerge as the next research focus and developmental direction.