Research trends and hotspots of infertility and phthalate esters: a bibliometric and visualization analysis from 2001...

Phthalate esters (PAEs) are a class of synthetic compounds that are extensively utilized in a range of consumer products, and they significantly affect both environmental conditions and human reproductive health. Especially, many studies have been conducted to investigate the association between PAEs and infertility. However, a bibliometric analysis on this topic has yet to be published.

To conduct a bibliometric and visualization analysis of published articles concerning the association between PAEs and infertility, in order to identify and assess the research trends and hotspots in the field of infertility and PAEs, with a particular focus on by analyzing the temporal shift in exposure pathways and their impact on key unresolved aspects: mixed exposures, dose-response relationships, and toxicological mechanisms.

The Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database was searched for publications on infertility and PAEs between 2001 and 2024, to collect the authors, institutions, countries, references, keywords and impact factor (IF). CiteSpace 6.3.1, VOSviewer 1.6.20 and Bibliometrix Biblioshiny 4.1 were utilized to perform this bibliometric and visualization analysis.

This study analyzed a total of 406 documents, including 322 articles and 84 reviews. The authors and institutions with the largest number of publications belong to China and the USA. Reproductive Toxicology and Environment International have published the highest number of articles, and three most frequently cited journals mainly involve the fields of environmental health perspectives, human reproduction, and toxicological sciences. The analysis of keyword co-occurrence and explosive words shows that the keywords with the highest frequency are "bisphenol a," "infertility" and "testicular dysgenesis syndrome," "endocrine disrupting chemicals," "oxidative stress" and "bisphenol a," "infertility" are the research focuses and hotspots in recent years, which provides valuable guidance for PAEs and infertility from the aspects of etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment.

These results serve to elucidate the research hotspots associated with PAEs and infertility. Furthermore, it assists researchers in concentrating on contemporary research trends and offering guidance for future research, particularly in the areas of etiology, pathological mechanisms, diagnosis, and treatment.