Exploring the Impact of Chitosan-Based Nanoparticles in Cancer Targeted Drug Delivery: A Bibliometric Review

Over the last two decades, there has been a considerable increase in the usage of chitosan nanoparticles (CSNPs) for drug delivery applications in cancer treatment. However, a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of this emerging field is lacking. The current analysis presents a detailed bibliometric assessment of the research evolution and trends in CSNPs for cancer targeted-drug delivery from 2000 to 2022. A total of 626 publications from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database were evaluated using VOSviewer, Bibliometrix, and MS Excel. An in-depth exploration was carried out to find publication trends, the most productive authors, affiliations, countries, and journals as well as the highly cited publications within this particular research domain. Ick Chan Kwon was the most prominent author who made significant contributions to this field. China was the leading country in terms of research on CSNPs for cancer-targeted drug delivery, followed by India and Iran. Concerning the total number of publications, The International Journal of Biological Macromolecules excelled as the leading journal in this research area. Furthermore, the research trends and hotspots were also identified through the analysis of the most commonly used keywords by the authors. Our analysis highlights the growing research interest in CSNPs for cancer drug delivery, emphasizing the need for further exploration to unlock their full potential.