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. 2025 May 21:12:1565778.
doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1565778. eCollection 2025.

Bibliometric analysis of research on intestinal flora and primary biliary cholangitis published between 2004 and 2024 using VOSviewer and CiteSpace visualization

Tao Li  1 , Wang Jing  2
Affiliations

Bibliometric analysis of research on intestinal flora and primary biliary cholangitis published between 2004 and 2024 using VOSviewer and CiteSpace visualization

Tao Li et al. Front Med (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Background: Increasing evidence suggests that the onset and progression of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) are closely linked to changes in gut microbiota, including bacterial translocation, molecular mimicry, and immune regulation. This study aimed to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the frontiers and hotspots of research on the relationship between gut microbiota and PBC between 2004 and 2024.

Methods: A bibliometric study was conducted by searching the Web of Science database for articles on intestinal flora and PBC published between 2004 and 2024. Excel, VOSviewer, and CiteSpace were used for econometric analysis and visualization of the identified articles.

Results: Between 2004 and 2024, 167 articles focusing on intestinal flora and PBC were published. The number of publications in this field maintained an upward trend over the years, with China and the United States contributing the highest number of articles. The United States had the highest total number of citations, and the institution with the most publications in the United States was the University of California Davis, with the team led by Professor Gershwin contributing the greatest number of articles. Frontiers in Immunology had the highest number of articles in the field, while Nature had the highest impact in terms of publications in this area of research. The main keywords were "primary sclerosing cholangitis," "bile acids," "ursodeoxycholic acid," "cirrhosis," "farnesoid X receptor," "inflammatory bowel disease," "risk factors," and "liver disease."

Conclusion: There is a correlation between gut microbiota and PBC, and the role of gut microbiota in the pathogenesis and treatment of PBC will continue to be a future research direction. Targets such as bile acids and farnesoid X receptors are also current research hotspots.

Keywords: CiteSpace; VOSviewer; bibliometrics; intestinal flora; primary biliary cholangitis.

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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
Flow chart of the literature search strategy.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Trends in publications and the number of citations related to intestinal flora and primary biliary cholangitis.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Inter-country cooperation network map.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Network diagram of inter-institutional cooperation.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Network diagram of the cooperation between authors.
Figure 6
Figure 6
(a) Journal overlay of studies on intestinal flora and PBC. (b) Co-cited journal network co-occurrence map. (c) Co-occurrence map of journal networks. PBC, primary biliary cholangitis.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Network visualization of the highly cited literature analysis.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Visual network diagram of the co-cited documents (cited ≥20 times).
Figure 9
Figure 9
Top 25 articles with the highest outbreak intensity.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Visual network diagram of the cluster analysis of co-cited documents.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Visual network diagram of the time axis of co-cited reference clustering.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Keyword clustering network graph visualization.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Top 25 most explosive keywords.
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