Trends and hotspots in autoimmune hepatitis research: based on bibliometric analysis.

BACKGROUND

Autoimmune Hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic inflammatory liver disease characterized by a sustained inflammatory response in the liver, usually associated with abnormalities in the immune system.The purpose of this study was to utilize bibliometric analysis to assess the current state of research on AIH and to predict future research areas and emerging trends.

OBJECTIVE

In this study, we used bibliometric analysis to comprehensively analyze the literature on Autoimmune Hepatitis (AIH) published during the past two decades.

METHODS

Literature from 2003 to 2023 was retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection, the world's leading citation indexing database. Visualization and analysis were performed using VOSviewer 1.6.18 and CiteSpace 6.2.R3 software.

RESULTS

The study covered 6,390 papers by 28,037 authors from 291 institutions in 110 countries. AIH research output grew significantly, peaking in 2023. The US was the top contributor, followed by China and Japan. Notable institutions included the University of London, Mayo Clinic, and King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. AIH research spans medicine, healthcare, clinical sciences, molecular biology, immunology, etc. CONCLUSION: In this paper, we have used bibliometric analysis to systematically review and analyze the research literature on autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) over the past two decades. This comprehensive overview aims to provide scholars dedicated to this field with a clear research lineage and future research directions.