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. 2024 Dec 31;20(1):2355037.
doi: 10.1080/21645515.2024.2355037. Epub 2024 May 30.

Decoding trends in mRNA vaccine research: A comprehensive bibliometric study

Chaobin Zhang  1 , Yuhang Wang  2 , Jianding Peng  2 , Xiaotian Wen  2 , Youwen Zhang  3 , Kejun Li  4 , Hanjian Du  5 , Xiaofei Hu  6
Affiliations

Decoding trends in mRNA vaccine research: A comprehensive bibliometric study

Chaobin Zhang et al. Hum Vaccin Immunother. .

Abstract

Background: In recent years, infectious diseases like COVID-19 have had profound global socio-economic impacts. mRNA vaccines have gained prominence due to their rapid development, industrial adaptability, simplicity, and responsiveness to new variants. Notably, the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine recognized significant contributions to mRNA vaccine research.

Methods: Our study employed a comprehensive bibliometric analysis using the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database, encompassing 5,512 papers on mRNA vaccines from 2003 to 2023. We generated cooperation maps, co-citation analyses, and keyword clustering to evaluate the field's developmental history and achievements.

Results: The analysis yielded knowledge maps highlighting countries/institutions, influential authors, frequently published and highly cited journals, and seminal references. Ongoing research hotspots encompass immune responses, stability enhancement, applications in cancer prevention and treatment, and combating infectious diseases using mRNA technology.

Conclusions: mRNA vaccines represent a transformative development in infectious disease prevention. This study provides insights into the field's growth and identifies key research priorities, facilitating advancements in vaccine technology and addressing future challenges.

Keywords: 2023 Nobel prize; bibliometric analysis; hotspot; mRNA vaccine.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
(a) Flowchart of the literature searching and screening in the study. (b) Global trend of publications and citations on mRNA vaccine.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
The collaboration of countries/institutions in the field of mRNA vaccine. (a-b) Co-occurrence network of countries/institutions. (c) Geographical distribution of global publications.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
The collaboration of authors and co-cited authors in the field of mRNA vaccine. (a) Cooperation network among the authors. (b) Cooperation network among the co-cited authors.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
The collaboration of authors and institutions in the field of base modification in mRNA vaccines. (a) Cooperation network among the authors. (b) Co-occurrence network of institutions.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
The collaboration of authors and institutions in the field of lipid nanoparticles in mRNA vaccines. (a) Cooperation network among the authors. (b) Cooperation network among the co-cited authors. (c) Co-occurrence network of institutions.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Visualization of the cited journals, co-citations journal, co-cited reference, and co-cited author analysis. (a) Co-occurrence network of cited journals. (b) Co-occurrence network of co-cited authors. (c) The dual-map overlay of articles citing mRNA vaccines. (The left side represents the citing journal, the right side represents the cited journal, and the lines indicate citation relationships).
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Network on keywords in the field of mRNA vaccines. (a) VOSviewer cluster visualization of keywords. (b) Cluster diagrams of keywords. (c) Visualization of keywords according to the average publication year (APY).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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