Hotspots and global trends in research of host immune response in periodontitis: A bibliometric analysis

The host immune response plays a major role in the pathogenesis of periodontitis. A bibliometric study can be crucial to understanding the different processes involved in this area; however, to our knowledge, it has not been published until now. Therefore, a bibliometric analysis was conducted to assess research hotspots and global trends in scientific articles about the immune response in periodontitis published between 1952 and 2023.

The search strategy was defined using keywords and Boolean operators. The Web of Science Core Collection database was used. In addition, the bibliometric analysis was performed using four tools: Python 3.12, VOSviewer 1.6.19, R-Bibliometrix, and CiteSpace.

A total of 7696 articles were included, comprising 6691 regular articles and 1005 review articles. Data analysis revealed an increasing trend in the number of publications over the years in this field, with the most cited article written by Preshaw et al. (2012). Leading countries in article production include the United States, China, Japan, and Brazil. Regarding institutions, the University of Helsinki had the highest number of publications (N = 339), with one of its researchers being the author with the most publications (Dr. Sorsa, N = 143, H-index = 52). Concerning journals, the Journal of Periodontology was the most influential journal. Finally, recent trending topics in research were related to the influence of inflammation on dysbiosis, immune biomarkers, immunomodulation, and the impact of aging on immunocompetence.

This bibliometric study demonstrated a growing interest and the emergence of new trends in research on host immune response in periodontitis.