Bibliometric and visualized analysis of research on fecal microbiota transplantation

Abstract:

[Background] Fecal microbiota transplantation is a hot research topic in medical field in recent years. It can not only treat digestive system diseases but also have significant efficacy for neuropsychiatric disorders and cardiovascular diseases. [Objective] To learn the latest research status, hot spots, development trends of fecal microbiota transplantation and to provide reference for researchers in related fields. [Methods] CiteSpace was employed to conduct the visualized analysis of annual publications, authors, countries, journals, citations and keywords of the related papers from 2011 to 2021 in the Web of Science Core Collection. [Results] A total of 4 905 papers were included for analysis after screening. The annual publications increased rapidly, and the United States and China were the top contributors. Although the total number of papers published by Chinese researchers ranks the second in the world, the papers had low centrality and citation frequency, which indicated low quality and weak academic influence. Gastroenterology was the journal with the largest number of articles published, and Frontiers in Microbiology was the journal with the largest number of articles published by Chinese researchers. Fecal microbiota transplantation presented the trend of interdisciplinary development. The current studies about fecal microbiota transplantation mainly focused on intestinal diseases (e.g., inflammatory bowel disease and Clostridium difficile infection) and extragastrointestinal diseases (e.g., depression and coronary atherosclerosis). The application of fecal microbiota transplantation in juveniles, influence of fecal microbiota transplantation on insulin sensitivity, application of sequencing technology in intestinal flora research, and more accurate therapies with fecal microbiota transplantation may become the hot spots in the future. [Conclusion] The research on fecal microbiota transplantation is advancing rapidly, with the focus gradually expanding from intestinal diseases to extragastrointestinal diseases. It is an inevitable trend to accurately apply fecal microbiota transplantation to the treatment of other diseases in the future.