Research trends in COPD-associated invasive pulmonary aspergillosis over the past two decades: a bibliometric and...

The timely diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease-associated invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (COPD-associated IPA) have garnered increasing clinical attention. However, a comprehensive bibliometric analysis in this field remains lacking. This study systematically reviewed diagnostic challenges and therapeutic strategies in COPD-associated IPA to identify current research trends and knowledge gaps, providing an evidence-based reference for clinical decision-making and future research.

Publications related to COPD-associated IPA since 2003 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database. Multiple analytical tools, including CiteSpace, VOSviewer, the R package 'bibliometrix', and custom Python scripts, were used to examine publication trends, collaborative networks, major research themes, and emerging topics. Additionally, clinical case reports and studies published during the same period were extracted from PubMed to assess clinical advances.

A total of 288 relevant publications from 60 countries were identified, of which 272 met the bibliometric inclusion criteria. An extended topic analysis based on the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model was performed on 14,567 records related to invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA). The University of Manchester and Capital Medical University were identified as leading institutions. The Journal of Fungi had the highest publication output. Core research themes encompassed IPA, epidemiology, risk factors, intensive care units, diagnosis, and treatment.

This study presents a systematic bibliometric analysis of COPD-associated IPA publications from 2003 to 2025, delineating publication trends, collaborative networks, and core research themes. The findings provide evidence-based insights into research evolution and highlight priority areas, serving as a reference for future studies.