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Global Research Landscape on Leptin Resistance and Obesity-Related Metabolic Dysfunction: Trends, Networks and
1Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine.
Background:
Leptin resistance is closely linked to obesity, insulin resistance, inflammation and cardiometabolic disorders. However, the global research output on leptin resistance and obesity-related metabolic dysfunction has not been mapped in detail. This study aimed to analyse global research trends in this field from 1995 to 2025.
Methods:
Publications were retrieved from the Scopus database. Bibliometric indicators included annual growth, document type, productive countries, institutions, journals, highly cited publications and international collaboration. VOSviewer version 1.6.21 was used to visualise country collaboration and title-abstract term co-occurrence.
Results:
A total of 2162 publications were included. Publication output increased substantially across the study period but fluctuated, peaking in 2014 and remaining broadly stable thereafter. Articles were the most common document type (n = 1658; 76.69%), followed by reviews (n = 433; 20.03%). The United States ranked first (n = 741; 34.27%), followed by China (n = 255; 11.79%), Japan (n = 132; 6.11%), Spain (n = 131; 6.06%) and Germany (n = 124; 5.74%). Harvard Medical School was the most productive institution, and Endocrinology was the most active journal. Cowley et al. had the most cited publication, with 2052 citations. Term mapping revealed three main themes: 'clinical metabolic dysfunction and cardiometabolic risk,' 'hypothalamic leptin signalling and energy homeostasis,' and 'body weight regulation and developmental programming.'
Conclusions:
Research on leptin resistance and obesity-related metabolic dysfunction expanded substantially between 1995 and 2025, although annual output fluctuated and plateaued after its 2014 peak. The maps suggest a broadening of terminology from early leptin biology and experimental models towards inflammatory, cardiometabolic and mechanistic topics; this pattern should not be interpreted as proof of a causal or complete transition. Collaboration remained concentrated among high-output countries.
