Advancing drug repurposing research: Trends, collaborative networks, innovation and knowledge leaders

The advancement of drug repurposing (DR) relies on scientific leadership and innovative institutions with access to knowledge. We performed a bibliometric and social network analysis (covering the period 2011-2020) to map the DR research trends and to identify innovation and knowledge leaders (IKLs). The indexing rate of DR publications has steadily increased. Major research areas included emerging viruses, cancer, methodological approaches, preclinical research, and infectious diseases. Government and academia accounted for nearly 65% of funding. Using a combination of network centrality metrics, 41 IKLs affiliated to central and pericentral institutions in the global research network were identified. These IKLs can facilitate the flow of knowledge and are best positioned to promote interactions within the network, with the potential to contribute significantly to advancing the DR field.