Global tuberculosis research status and hotspots from 2016 to 2021:visualization analysis based on VOSviewer

ABSTRACT

Objective: To analyze the status and hotspots of global tuberculosis (TB) research from 2016 to 2021 based on bibliometric methods. Methods: Based on the Web of Science Core Collection Database, we indexed "articles" and "reviews" related to TB from Jan 1, 2016 to Nov 18, 2021.Using VOSviewer to cluster the published features, highly cited papers, key research directions and subject headings, a summary of research hotspots was formed. Results: A total of 22 264 articles were retrieved.The United States (5 026 papers, 22.57%) published the most papers, with an average citation frequency of 12.55, and Chinese mainland ranked the third (3 116 papers, 14.00%), with an average citation frequency of 6.38. The four most influential research areas were infectious diseases, microbiology, immunology, and respiratory system.The hotspots obtained after the clustering of keyword topics were epidemiological research including disease burden assessment, TB prevention regarding to latent TB infection treatment and TB vaccine development, TB rapid molecular diagnosis and immunology diagnosis technology, anti-TB drugs and treatment for drug resistant TB, TB infection immune response and pathogenic mechanism. Conclusion: In the past six years, TB research focused on disease burden and various new diagnostic methods, treatment methods, and preventive measures.Drug-resistant tuberculosis patients, childhood tuberculosis patients, and HIV-infected patients were the key populations for research. TB research needs to be sustainable during COVID-19 pandemic. © 2022, Editorial Department of Fudan University Journal of Medical Sciences. All right reserved.