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. 2025 Jul 4;104(27):e43180.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000043180.

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A bibliometric analysis

Gaihong Liu  1   2 , Ningning Liu  2 , Yingxue Xu  2 , Fan Su  2
Affiliations

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A bibliometric analysis

Gaihong Liu et al. Medicine (Baltimore). .

Abstract

Objective: This study analyzes the research hotspots and future directions of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Methods: Relevant literature was searched using the Web of Science database and analyzed using econometric tools such as CiteSpace and VOSviewer.

Results: A total of 145 articles were included in this study, involving 317 research institutions in 31 countries and regions. Acta Neuropathologica is a prominent journal in terms of issuance and influence, and countries such as the United States and Japan, as well as institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania, occupy an important position in the research. The keywords cover various aspects such as disease characteristics and gene mutations; highly-cited literature focuses on TDP-43 protein and C9orf72 gene mutations. Research hotspots include TDP-43 protein disease-driven pathomechanisms, RNA-related studies, clinical manifestations of the disease and genetic studies, etc. In recent years, research focus has shifted to RNA, C9orf72 gene and so on.

Conclusion: To our knowledge, this study is the first econometric evaluation of the FTLD-ALS literature, and although there are limitations such as relying on the number of documents and citation relationships, and a single source of data, it provides a valuable reference for research in this field and helps to promote subsequent research.

Keywords: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; bibliometric analysis; frontotemporal lobar degeneration; future research direction; research hotspots.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
FTLD-ALS literature search flow chart. ALS = amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, FTLD = frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
FTLD-ALS trends map. ALS = amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, FTLD = frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
FTLD-ALS collaboration network mapping. (A) Core authors. (B) Journal collaboration networks. (C) Institutional networks. (D) National collaboration networks. ALS = amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, FTLD = frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
FTLD-ALS keyword co-occurrence map. ALS = amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, FTLD = frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
FTLD-ALS keywords clustering map. ALS = amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, FTLD = frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Top 30 keywords with the strongest citation explosion in FTLD-ALS literature. ALS = amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, FTLD = frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Mapping of highly co-cited journals in the FTLD-ALS field. ALS = amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, FTLD = frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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