Scientometrics
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Jan 27, 2025; 17(1): 96105
Published online Jan 27, 2025. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v17.i1.96105
Hotspots and trends in stem cell therapy for liver fibrosis and cirrhosis: A bibliometric analysis
Wen-Yan Zhu, Xiang Li, Jia-Ling Xie, Qin Lu, Ying-Jie Ma, Zhao-Jing Zhu, Juan Liu
Wen-Yan Zhu, Zhao-Jing Zhu, Chongqing Engineering Research Center of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chongqing Medical and Pharmaceutical College, Chongqing 401331, China
Wen-Yan Zhu, College of Pharmacy, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China
Xiang Li, Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China
Jia-Ling Xie, Qin Lu, Juan Liu, Immunology Research Center of Medical Research Institute, Southwest University, Chongqing 402460, China
Ying-Jie Ma, Office of Scientific Research of Army Medical Center, Army Medical University, Chongqing 400042, China
Co-first authors: Wen-Yan Zhu and Xiang Li.
Co-corresponding authors: Zhao-Jing Zhu and Juan Liu.
Author contributions: Zhu WY contributed to conceptualization, manuscript writing, reviewing, editing, funding acquisition, and project administration; Li X contributed to conceptualization, manuscript writing, reviewing, and editing; Zhu WY, Li X, Xie JL, and Lu Q wrote the original draft; Zhu WY and Ma YJ performed statistical analysis and prepared the figures; All authors approved the final manuscript. Zhu WY and Li X were the co-first authors of this study, having played equal roles in the experimental design, data collection, analysis, and writing of the paper. Zhu ZJ and Liu J serve as the co-corresponding authors. First, they both played an instrumental role in designing the project. Second, their professional knowledge and skills were invaluable in the study. Last, this decision reflects the equal contributions and shared responsibilities of the co-corresponding authors.
Supported by the School-Level Project Fund of Chongqing Medical and Pharmaceutical College, No. Ygzrc2023109; the Science and Technology Research Program of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission, No. KJQN202302822; the Special Fund for Agro-Scientific Research in The Public Interest, No. 201303040-05; and the Special Project for Fundamental Work of Science and Technology, No. 2013FY110600-03.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Juan Liu, PharmD, Professor, Immunology Research Center of Medical Research Institute, Southwest University, No. 160 Xueyuan Road, Rongchang District, Chongqing 402460, China. dyx4@swu.edu.cn
Received: May 1, 2024
Revised: October 29, 2024
Accepted: November 19, 2024
Published online: January 27, 2025
Processing time: 249 Days and 23 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Liver fibrosis and cirrhosis are global medical challenges that require safe and effective treatments. In the past two decades, there has been a surge in research on stem cell therapy for liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. This study aimed to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the research hotspots and trends in this field through bibliometrics.

AIM

To conduct a bibliometric analysis on hotspots and trends in stem cell therapy for treatment of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis.

METHODS

Publications on stem cell therapy for liver fibrosis and cirrhosis were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database. The distribution and collaboration among literature, authors, countries, and institutions were analyzed visually using Excel, CiteSpace, Bibliometrix R-package, VOSviewer and Pajek software. Additionally, an investigation of keywords, burst keywords, and clusters was conducted.

RESULTS

As of September 20, 2024, a total of 1935 documents were retrieved dating from 2004 to 2024, with 1186 strongly relevant publications obtained after screening. China, the United States, and Japan were the major contributors in this field. Cairo University, Zhejiang University and Yamaguchi University were the major institution in this field. The journal Stem Cell Research & Therapy published the most papers. There were 686 authors, with Shuji Terai, Isao Sakaida, Soon Koo Baik, and Lanjuan Li publishing the most papers. The research focused on alcoholic cirrhosis and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. The emerging areas of interest were extracellular vesicles, exosomes, and their enriched microRNAs. The field is experiencing rapid growth due to the changing research trends and increasing literature.

CONCLUSION

These findings provide a thorough overview of stem cell therapy in the field of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis.

Keywords: Liver fibrosis; Cirrhosis; Stem cell therapy; Mesenchymal stromal cell; Extracellular vesicles; Exosomes; Bibliometrics

Core Tip: Liver fibrosis and cirrhosis are global challenges that require effective treatments. This study presented a bibliometric analysis of publications on stem cell therapy for liver fibrosis and cirrhosis from the last 20 years that were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database. China was the productive country. Cairo University was the major institution. Shuji Terai was the most prolific author. Stem Cell Research & Therapy was the leading journal publishing the most papers. The text presented an overview of several emerging areas of interest, including alcoholic cirrhosis, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, extracellular vesicles, exosomes, and inflammation.