Research Hotspots and Emerging Trends of Schizophrenia and Immune Response: A Bibliometric Analysis

Schizophrenia is a complex psychiatric disorder increasingly recognized for its association with immune responses. This bibliometric analysis aims to systematically evaluate global research trends, emerging themes, and collaborative networks in the study of schizophrenia and immune response.

Publications related to schizophrenia and immune response were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. Bibliometric tools, including VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and the R package "bibliometrix," were used to analyze keyword co-occurrence and collaboration networks among countries, institutions, journals, and authors.

A total of 1556 articles were published between 1980 and 2024, with an annual growth rate of 11.39%. The United States led globally in both publication volume (364 articles) and citation count (18,328 citations). The University of California system and Harvard University were the leading institutions, whereas Brain, Behavior, and Immunity was the most influential journal. Maes M. ranked first in publication output with 35 articles. Co-occurrence analysis of keywords identified five research clusters: neuroinflammation and cellular mechanisms, immune markers and clinical responses, autoimmunity and peripheral immune systems, genetic susceptibility and molecular pathways, and neuroinflammation and stress responses. The keyword "disorder" experienced a sustained citation burst in 2024.

This study indicates that research on schizophrenia and immune responses remains focused on mechanistic exploration. Future studies should prioritize integrating clinical manifestations with molecular mechanisms, combining multi-omics data with clinical phenotypes to deeply investigate the role of immune regulation in disease pathogenesis and treatment, thereby advancing precision medicine.