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©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Unveiling the hidden world of gut health: Exploring cutting-edge research through visualizing randomized controlled trials on the gut microbiota
Sa’ed H Zyoud, Muna Shakhshir, Amani S Abushanab, Amer Koni, Moyad Shahwan, Ammar Abdulrahman Jairoun, Adham Abu Taha, Samah W Al-Jabi
Sa’ed H Zyoud, Amani S Abushanab, Amer Koni, Samah W Al-Jabi, Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus 44839, Palestine
Sa’ed H Zyoud, Clinical Research Centre, An-Najah National University Hospital, Nablus 44839, Palestine
Muna Shakhshir, Department of Nutrition, An-Najah National University Hospital, Nablus 44839, Palestine
Amer Koni, Division of Clinical Pharmacy, Hematology and Oncology Pharmacy Department, An-Najah National University Hospital, Nablus 44839, Palestine
Moyad Shahwan, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Ajman University, Ajman 346, United Arab Emirates
Ammar Abdulrahman Jairoun, Department of Health and Safety, Dubai Municipality, Dubai 67, United Arab Emirates
Ammar Abdulrahman Jairoun, Discipline of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Pulau Pinang 11500, Malaysia
Adham Abu Taha, Department of Pathology, An-Najah National University Hospital, Nablus 44839, Palestine
Adham Abu Taha, Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus 44839, Palestine
Author contributions: Zyoud SH developed the concept for the manuscript, reviewed the literature, designed the study, collected the data, analyzed the data, made significant contributions to the existing literature search and interpretation of the manuscript, and wrote the manuscript; Shakhshir M contributed to the conceptualization and methodology of the study, involved in the interpretation of the data, contributed to the manuscript writing, and made revisions to the initial draft; Koni A, Abushanab AS, Jairoun AA, Shahwan WM, Abu Taha A, and Al-Jabi SW participated in the interpretation of the data, and made revisions to the initial draft; all authors provided a critical review and approved the final manuscript before submission.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no financial disclosures or conflicts of interest to declare.
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: Sa’ed H Zyoud, PhD, Director, Full Professor, Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Academic Street, Nablus 44839, Palestine. saedzyoud@yahoo.com
Received: June 3, 2023
Peer-review started: June 3, 2023
First decision: August 5, 2023
Revised: August 12, 2023
Accepted: August 18, 2023
Article in press: August 18, 2023
Published online: September 16, 2023
BACKGROUND
The gut microbiota plays a crucial role in gastrointestinal and overall health. Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) play a crucial role in advancing our knowledge and evaluating the efficacy of therapeutic interventions targeting the gut microbiota.
AIM
To conduct a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the literature on RCTs involving the gut microbiota.
METHODS
Using bibliometric tools, a descriptive cross-sectional investigation was conducted on scholarly publications concentrated on RCTs related to gut microbiota, spanning the years 2003 to 2022. The study used VOSviewer version 1.6.9 to examine collaboration networks between different countries and evaluate the frequently employed terms in the titles and abstracts of the retrieved publications. The primary objective of this analysis was to identify key research areas and focal points associated with RCTs involving the gut microbiota.
RESULTS
A total of 1061 relevant articles were identified from the 24758 research articles published between 2003 and 2022. The number of publications showed a notable increase over time, with a positive correlation (R2 = 0.978, P < 0.001). China (n = 276, 26.01%), the United States (n = 254, 23.94%), and the United Kingdom (n = 97, 9.14%) were the leading contributing countries. Københavns Universitet (n = 38, 3.58%) and Dankook University (n = 35, 3.30%) were the top active institutions. The co-occurrence analysis shows current gut microbiota research trends and important topics, such as obesity interventions targeting the gut microbiota, the efficacy and safety of fecal microbiota transplantation, and the effects of dietary interventions on humans.
CONCLUSION
The study highlights the rapid growth and importance of research on RCTs that involve the gut microbiota. This study provides valuable insight into research trends, identifies key players, and outlines potential future directions in this field. Additionally, the co-occurrence analysis identified important topics that play a critical role in the advancement of science and provided insights into future research directions in this field.
Core Tip: This bibliometric analysis provides valuable insights into the growing research on randomized clinical trials (RCTs) involving the gut microbiota. The study identifies key research areas, prominent contributors, and collaboration networks. The analysis reveals that interventions targeting the gut microbiota for managing obesity, fecal microbiota transplantation, and the impact of diet interventions on the gut microbiota are important focal points. The study underscores the significance of RCTs in understanding the gut microbiota and offers directions for future research in this field.
