Bibliometric Analysis and Visualization of Research Progress in the Diabetic Nephropathy Field from 2001 to 2021

Background/Aims. Diabetic nephropathy (DN) remained the leading driver of global end-stage renal disease (ESRD) incidence, and tens of thousands of studies to date have analyzed DN-related topics. However, no bibliometric analysis of DN-associated studies indexed in the PubMed database from 2001 to 2021 has been conducted to date. The present bibliometric study was thus developed to visualize and offer insight into the knowledge framework, research hotspots, and dynamic changes in the DN field over the course from 2001 to 2021. Methods. The PubMed database was searched to identify all studies related to DN that were published from 2001 to 2021, with these studies being separated into four time-based groups. The characteristics of these studies were analyzed and extracted using BICOMB. Biclustering analyses for each of these groups were then performed using gCLUTO, with these results then being analyzed and GraphPad Prism 5 being used to construct strategy diagrams. The social network analyses (SNAs) for each group of studies were conducted using NetDraw and UCINET. Results. In total, 18,889 DN-associated studies published from 2001 to 2021 and included in the PubMed database were incorporated into the present bibliometric analysis. Biclustering analysis and strategy diagrams revealed that active areas of research interest in the DN field include studies of the drug-based treatment, diagnosis, etiology, pathology, physiopathology, and epidemiology of DN. The specific research topics associated with these individual areas, however, have evolved over time in a dynamic manner. Strategy diagrams and SNA results revealed podocyte metabolism as an emerging research hotspot in the DN research field from 2010 to 2015, while DN-related microRNAs, signal transduction, and mesangial cell metabolism have emerged as more recent research hotspots in the interval from 2016 to 2021. Conclusion. Through analyses of PubMed-indexed studies pertaining to DN published since 2001, the results of this bibliometric analysis offer a knowledge framework and insight into active and historical research hotspots in the DN research space, enabling investigators to readily understand the dynamic evolution of this field over the past two decades. Importantly, these analyses also enable the prediction of future DN-related research hotspots, thereby potentially guiding more focused and impactful research efforts.