Global Trends in Avian Pathogenic Escherichia coli Research: A Bibliometric Analysis (2000 to 2025)

Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC), a subgroup of extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC), causes infections in poultry and may pose a public health risk. Although previous reviews have examined the epidemiology, genotypes, pathogenicity, antimicrobial resistance, and zoonotic risk of APEC, its global research landscape and development trends have not been systematically evaluated. This study analyzed 1121 APEC-related publications published from 2000 to 2025 and indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). Bibliometrix, VOSviewer, and CiteSpace were used to examine publication trends, countries, institutions, journals, citations, and keywords. The number of publications increased steadily, with more rapid growth after 2019. China produced the most publications, whereas the USA received the most citations. Iowa State University, Yangzhou University, and Anhui Agricultural University were the leading institutions, and Poultry Science, Veterinary Microbiology, and Avian Diseases were the most productive journals. Keyword co-occurrence, clustering, and burst analyses identified infection mechanisms, molecular identification, antimicrobial resistance, and immune responses as the main research topics. These findings provide an overview of the development of APEC research and may support future studies on broad-spectrum vaccines, phage therapy, and microbiota-based interventions for APEC prevention and control.