A bibliometric and visualization analysis of global trends and frontiers on macrophages in abdominal aortic aneurysms research.

Background: Macrophages are key regulators of the inflammatory and innate immune responses. Researchers have shown that aberrant expression of macrophages contributes to the development of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). However, a comprehensive bibliometric analysis exploring the research status and knowledge mapping of this area is lacking. This study aimed to explore the research status, knowledge mapping and hotspots of macrophages in AAA research from a bibliometric perspective.

Methods: In this study, we retrieved articles published between 2000 and 2022 on macrophages associated with AAA research from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database. The retrieved literature data were further analyzed using Citespace and VOSviewer software.

Results: A total of 918 qualified publications related to AAA-associated macrophages were retrieved. The number of publications in this field has been increasing annually. China and the United States were the 2 main drivers in this field, contributing to more than 64% of the publications. In addition, the US had the most publications, top institutions, and expert researchers, dominating in research on macrophages in AAA. The Harvard University was the most productive institution, with 60 publications. The journal with the most publications was Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology (86). Daugherty Alan was the most prolific author (28 publications) and he was also the most cited co- author. Furthermore, the exploration of established animal models, macrophage-related inflammatory-microenvironment, macrophage-related immune mechanism, clinical translation and molecular imaging research remained future research directions in this field.

Conclusions: Our findings offered new insights for scholars in this field. They will help researchers explore new directions for their work.