Bibliometric analysis of research trends in stem cell therapy for knee osteoarthritis over the period 2001–2021

Abstract

Stem cell therapy is a promising treatment for knee osteoarthritis, but few bibliometric studies have been performed on the subject. Bibliometric analysis is helpful for identifying the most influential studies in a specific field and can evaluate the global research trends in stem cell therapy for knee osteoarthritis. The Web of Science Core Collection was searched for publications from 2001 to 2021. Publication performance was analyzed using several bibliometric parameters, including VOSviewer, to identify the research landscape of trends in topics, and CiteSpace was investigated to identify the keywords that have the strongest citation bursts. From 2001 to 2021, in total, 1,345 publications explored the research on stem cells in knee osteoarthritis. The United States contributed the largest number of publications and at the top list of international collaborations. Tokyo Medical and Dental University ranked first among institutions in the overall number of articles and citations. The journal of Osteoarthritis and Cartilage had the largest number of publications. Sekiya Ichiro was the most cited author, with 32 articles. The keywords with the most frequent occurrence were “osteoarthritis,” “mesenchymal stem cells,” and “cartilage,” in descending order of frequency. “fibroblast growth factor” and “extracellular vesicle” were the first and last searched theme terms, respectively. The number of publications on stem cells for knee osteoarthritis stays growing. Cartilage repair and paracrine function are current research hotspots for the stem cell therapy mechanism. Stem cell therapy has gradually advanced from basic research to the clinical application stage.