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. 2016 Sep 9;11(9):e0162099.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0162099. eCollection 2016.

Global Regulatory T-Cell Research from 2000 to 2015: A Bibliometric Analysis

Yin Zongyi  1 , Chen Dongying  2 , Li Baifeng  1
Affiliations

Global Regulatory T-Cell Research from 2000 to 2015: A Bibliometric Analysis

Yin Zongyi et al. PLoS One. .

Erratum in

Abstract

We aimed to analyze the global scientific output of regulatory T-cell (Treg) research and built a model to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate publications from 2000 to 2015. Data were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) of Thomson Reuters on January 1, 2016. The bibliometric method and Citespace III were used to analyze authors, journals, publication outputs, institutions, countries, research areas, research hotspots, and trends. In total, we identified 35,741 publications on Treg research from 2000 to 2015, and observed that the annual publication rate increased with time. The Journal of Immunology published the highest number of articles, the leading country was the USA, and the leading institute was Harvard University. Sakaguchi, Hori, Fontenot, and Wang were the top authors in Treg research. Immunology accounted for the highest number of publications, followed by oncology, experimental medicine, cell biology, and hematology. Keyword analysis indicated that autoimmunity, inflammation, cytokine, gene expression, foxp3, and immunotherapy were the research hotspots, whereas autoimmune inflammation, gene therapy, granzyme B, RORγt, and th17 were the frontiers of Treg research. This bibliometric analysis revealed that Treg-related studies are still research hotspots, and that Treg-related clinical therapies are the research frontiers; however, further study and collaborations are needed worldwide. Overall, our findings provide valuable information for the editors of immunology journals to identify new perspectives and shape future research directions.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Trends in the number of scholarly publications related to regulatory T cell (Treg) research from 2000 to 2015.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Map of countries and territories of groups that published articles related to regulatory T cell (Treg) research from 2000 to 2015.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Institutions that published articles related to regulatory T cell (Treg) research from 2000 to 2015.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Map of authors who published articles related to regulatory T cell (Treg) research.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Co-citation map of authors who published articles related to regulatory T cell (Treg) research from 2000 to 2015.
Fig 6
Fig 6. Reference co-citation map of articles related to regulatory T cell (Treg) research published from 2000 to 2015.
Fig 7
Fig 7. Reference co-citation time-view map of articles related to regulatory T cell (Treg) research published from 2000 to 2015.
Fig 8
Fig 8. The 15 most frequently appearing research areas in regulatory T cell (Treg) studies from 2000 to 2015.
Fig 9
Fig 9. Map of keyword co-occurrence in articles related to regulatory T cell (Treg) research published from 2000 to 2015.
Fig 10
Fig 10. Top 25 keywords with the strongest citation bursts in articles related to regulatory T cell (Treg) research published from 2000 to 2015.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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