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. 2025 May 13:16:1574736.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1574736. eCollection 2025.

Tracing the history of clinical practice of liquid biopsy: a bibliometric analysis

Shuo Zhang #  1 , Hongwei Zhao #  2 , Kangchun Wang #  3 , Lijie Li  4 , Qi Pan  5   6 , Meitong Lu  2 , Xing Zhang  2
Affiliations

Tracing the history of clinical practice of liquid biopsy: a bibliometric analysis

Shuo Zhang et al. Front Immunol. .

Abstract

Introduction: Liquid biopsy holds great promise in clinical diagnosis, treatment, and prognostic monitoring. This study reveals the development of liquid biopsy in clinical practice through a comprehensive bibliometric analysis.

Methods: A total of 40 years of research literature in this field was included from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC), analyzing the evolving research trends of liquid biopsy in clinical practice. We constructed co-occurrence networks for countries, institutions, authors, and keywords, integrating citation analysis and journal impact metrics to provide a comprehensive view of the research landscape in the field of liquid biopsy.

Results: The results show a significant growth trend in the clinical practice of liquid biopsy, with China and the United States being the leading contributors. Institutions such as Harvard University and the University of California system play a central role in the global collaboration network. Cancers has become the primary publication outlet for the field, while highly cited journals like Clinical Cancer Research play a crucial role in advancing its development. Keyword analysis reveals that research has progressively expanded into clinical applications, personalized treatment, and prognostic evaluation.

Discussion: Overall, as technology and applications continue to mature, liquid biopsy is expected to play an even greater role in the early diagnosis, treatment evaluation, and personalized treatment of cancer and other diseases.

Keywords: bibliometric analysis; biomarkers; cancer; clinical practice; liquid biopsy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Annual and cumulative publications from 1985 to 2014; (B) Top 10 countries/regions by total publications.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) Network of country/region collaborations; (B) International collaboration percentage of the top 10 countries/regions by publications; (C) Time heatmap of publication trends for each country/region.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) Collaboration network of the top 35 authors in publications; (B) The top 15 most-cited authors; (C) Ranking of the top 15 institutions in publications.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Institutional collaboration network.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(A) Top 10 journals in publications; (B) Temporal trend of the top 10 journals in publications; (C) Top 10 most-cited journals;.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Dual-map overlay of the journals.
Figure 7
Figure 7
(A) Keyword co-occurrence network; (B) Keyword clustering map; (C) Timeline view of keywords from 1985 to 2024.
Figure 8
Figure 8
(A) Keyword burst analysis results from 1985 to 2024; (B) Sankey diagram of papers, authors, and keywords.
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