An Overview of Publications on Extracellular Vesicles in Osteoarthritis from 2012 to 2022: A Bibliometric Analysis

Background. Extracellular vesicles, particularly those derived from stem cells, have demonstrated promising potential in osteoarthritis in recent years. However, there has been no bibliometric analysis focusing on the relationship between extracellular vesicles and osteoarthritis. This study aimed to investigate trends and hotpots of publications on extracellular vesicles in osteoarthritis. Methods. This study collected publications on extracellular vesicles in osteoarthritis from the Web of Science Core Collection database, focusing on English-language articles and reviews. Quantitative and visual analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel, R shiny, SCImago Graphica, VOS Viewer, and CiteSpace. The data set comprised information on keywords, authors, institutions, journals, and the country or region of the included literature. Journal impact factors and H-index values were obtained from the 2021 Journal Citation Reports and SJR-International Science Ranking. Furthermore, we conducted a frequency analysis of annual publications number and fitting curves of the growth trends in the publications. Moreover, we conducted a citation burst analysis of the top 20 keywords and a related bibliometric analysis (word frequency analysis and cocitation analysis) using CiteSpace. Results. A total of 715 documents were analyzed. The number of publications increased annually from 2012 to 2022. China had the highest number (n = 394, 55.1%) of publications and total citations during the decade, followed by the United States (n = 105, 14.7%). Shanghai JiaoTong University contributed the highest number of publications (n = 28, 3.9%). Wang Y has the highest number of publications (n = 40, 5.6%), and Stem Cell Research & Therapy is the journal with the highest number of publications (n = 64, 9.0%). The hotspots of extracellular vesicle research in recent years are umbilical cord blood, drug delivery, and scaffolds. Conclusion. Our findings indicate an increase in publications on the topic in utilizing extracellular vesicles in the context of osteoarthritis. Extracellular vesicle therapy for cartilage regeneration and repair of bone defects in osteoarthritis holds significant potential. Future research will focus on the development of novel drug delivery systems that utilize extracellular vesicles, the creation of novel biomaterials that incorporate extracellular vesicles, and the potential of extracellular vesicles as early diagnostic markers of disease.