Advancing the understanding of tumor microenvironment through medical imaging based on bibliometric analysis

As a key diagnostic and monitoring tool, medical imaging has drawn considerable attention in tumor microenvironment (TME) research, emphasizing the need to understand current research trends, key focus areas, and emerging developments. To explore this field comprehensively, this study utilizes bibliometric methods to analyze research on the TME through medical imaging.

The relevant research publications were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database. CiteSpace was utilized to visualize the co-occurrence of institutions and keywords and create dual-map overlay of journals. VOSviewer generated visual maps for authors, citations, and references. Furthermore, some analyzed data, including publication trends and cooperative relationships, were plotted using R.

The final study included 1,256 articles for further analysis. The number of publications rose steadily from 5 in 2008 to 215 in 2025, with citations also showing sustained growth from 4 to 5,628 over the years. The China (n=446, 35.51%) was the most prominent contributor. Krishna Murali C. (n=16) had the highest publication count. The USA (total link strength =201), the University of California System (n=42), and Ellingson Benjamin M. (total link strength =82, collaboration =26) were the respective leaders in the field. Cancer Research [impact factor (IF) =16.6, average citations =76.85] led the field in both IF and average citations.

This study highlights the current research status and hotspots in TME through medical imaging and points to the feasibility of using medical imaging to evaluate the TME components more accurately. The potential for monitoring the response to immunotherapy and image-guided individualized treatment will be key future research trends.