Scientometrics
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Feb 27, 2025; 17(2): 95624
Published online Feb 27, 2025. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v17.i2.95624
Global landscape of hepatic organoid research: A bibliometric and visual study
Tao Li, Rong-Qiang Bo, Jun Yan, Nadia L Johnson, Meng-Ting Liao, Yuan Li, Yan Chen, Jie Lin, Jian Li, Fu-Hao Chu, Xia Ding
Tao Li, Yuan Li, Yan Chen, Jie Lin, Xia Ding, School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100700, China
Rong-Qiang Bo, Jun Yan, Nadia L Johnson, Meng-Ting Liao, Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100700, China
Jian Li, Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 102488, China
Fu-Hao Chu, Institute of Regulatory Science for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China
Co-first authors: Tao Li and Rong-Qiang Bo.
Co-corresponding authors: Fu-Hao Chu and Xia Ding.
Author contributions: Li T and Bong RQ contributed to data analysis, software, and manuscript drafting; Yan J and Johnson NL contributed to manuscript editing; Liao MT, Li Y, Chen Y, Jie L, and Li J contributed to software and visualization; Li T, Chu FH, and Ding X contributed to conceptualization, supervision, fund acquisition, and manuscript review; all of the authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81630080, No. 82305179, and No. 82374181; The China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Grant, No. 2019M650600; The Beijing University of Chinese Medicine “Decoding Traditional Chinese Medicine” Project, No. 2023-JYB-JBZD-036; and The Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, No. KF2021104.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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: Fu-Hao Chu, PhD, Associate Professor, Teacher, Institute of Regulatory Science for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, No. 11 East Beisanhuan Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100029, China. chufhao@163.com
Received: April 14, 2024
Revised: October 11, 2024
Accepted: November 12, 2024
Published online: February 27, 2025
Processing time: 311 Days and 12 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Hepatic organoid-based modelling, through the elucidation of a range of in vivo biological processes and the recreation of the intricate liver microenvironment, is yielding groundbreaking insights into the pathophysiology and personalized medicine approaches for liver diseases.

AIM

This study was designed to analyse the global scientific output of hepatic organoid research and assess current achievements and future trends through bibliometric analysis.

METHODS

Articles were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection, and CiteSpace 6.3.R1 was employed to analyse the literature, including outputs, journals, and countries, among others.

RESULTS

Between 2010 and 2024, a total of 991 articles pertaining to hepatic organoid research were published. The journal Hepatology published the greatest number of papers, and journals with an impact factor greater than 10 constituted 60% of the top 10 journals. The United States and Utrecht University were identified as the most prolific country and institution, respectively. Clevers H emerged as the most prolific author, whereas Huch M had the highest number of cocitations, suggesting that both are ideal candidates for academic collaboration. Research on hepatic organoids has exhibited a progressive shift in focus, evolving from initial investigations into model building, differentiation research in stem cells, bile ducts, and progenitor cells, to a broader spectrum encompassing lipid metabolism, single-cell RNA sequencing, and therapeutic applications. The phrases exhibiting citation bursts from 2022 to 2024 include “drug resistance”, “disease model”, and “patient-derived tumor organoids”.

CONCLUSION

Research on hepatic organoids has increased over the past decade and is expected to continue to grow. Key research areas include applications for liver diseases and drug development. Future trends likely to gain focus include patient-derived tumour organoids, disease modelling, and personalized medicine.

Keywords: Hepatic organoid; Bibliometric analysis; CiteSpace; Web of Science Core Collection; Three-dimensional culture

Core Tip: We systematically analyzed the global scientific contributions in the field of hepatic organoids research through a meticulous bibliometric assessment. We constructed a mapping knowledge domain to visualize the achievements of hepatic organoid research, including global scientific output, active journals, prolific countries, institutions, and authors, as well as the historical progression of the research field.