Research trends and hotspots in the immune microenvironment related to hepatocellular carcinoma: A bibliometric and visualization study

Figure 1  Diagram of the process and key steps of the study.

Figure 2 The annual publications between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2023 and the cumulative articles. The annual number of published papers since 2004 displays a gradual increase, delineated into three distinct stages. From 2004 to 2017, there was a slow growth pattern with fewer than 100 articles per year. In the years 2018-2020, we have witnessed a gradual increase in the number of articles. There was a rapid surge in publications after 2021, reaching a peak in 2023.

Figure 3 High frequency keywords. The most frequently identified keywords were tumor microenvironment (799), followed by expression (738), immunotherapy (694), and prognosis (500)