Research trends in cardiovascular tissue engineering from 1992 to 2022: a bibliometric analysis

Ping Lai; Ming Sheng; Jin-Hua Ye; Zhi-Xian Tang; Shuo Hu; Bei Wang; Jing-Lin Yuan; Yi-Hong Yang; Yi-Ming Zhong; Yong-Ling Liao

doi:10.3389/fcvm.2023.1208227

Research trends in cardiovascular tissue engineering from 1992 to 2022: a bibliometric analysis

Front Cardiovasc Med. 2023 Aug 1:10:1208227. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2023.1208227. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Ping Lai^#^{1

2}, Ming Sheng^#³, Jin-Hua Ye^#⁴, Zhi-Xian Tang⁵, Shuo Hu⁶, Bei Wang¹, Jing-Lin Yuan¹, Yi-Hong Yang¹, Yi-Ming Zhong^{1

2}, Yong-Ling Liao^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China.
² Key Laboratory of Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Diseases, Ministry of Education, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China.
³ Department of Library, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China.
⁴ Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China.
⁵ Department of Thoracic Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China.
⁶ Department of Heart Medical Centre, First Affiliated Hospital of Gannan Medical University, Ganzhou, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular tissue engineering (CTE) is a promising technique to treat incurable cardiovascular diseases, such as myocardial infarction and ischemic cardiomyopathy. Plenty of studies related to CTE have been published in the last 30 years. However, an analysis of the research status, trends, and potential directions in this field is still lacking. The present study applies a bibliometric analysis to reveal CTE research trends and potential directions.

Methods: On 5 August 2022, research articles and review papers on CTE were searched from the Web of Science Core Collection with inclusion and exclusion criteria. Publication trends, research directions, and visual maps in this field were obtained using Excel (Microsoft 2009), VOSviewer, and Citespace software.

Results: A total of 2,273 documents from 1992 to 2022 were included in the final analysis. Publications on CTE showed an upward trend from 1992 [number of publications (Np):1] to 2021 (Np:165). The United States (Np: 916, number of citations: 152,377, H-index: 124) contributed the most publications and citations in this field. Research on CTE has a wide distribution of disciplines, led by engineering (Np: 788, number of citations: 40,563, H-index: 105). "Functional maturation" [red cluster, average published year (APY): 2018.63, 30 times], "cell-derived cardiomyocytes" (red cluster, APY: 2018.43, 46 times), "composite scaffolds" (green cluster, APY: 2018.54, 41 times), and "maturation" (red cluster, APY: 2018.17, 84 times) are the main emerging keywords in this area.

Conclusion: Research on CTE is a hot research topic. The United States is a dominant player in CTE research. Interdisciplinary collaboration has played a critical role in the progress of CTE. Studies on functional maturation and the development of novel biologically relevant materials and related applications will be the potential research directions in this field.

Keywords: VOSviewer; bibliometric analysis; biomaterial; cardiovascular tissue engineering; potential research direction.

Grants and funding

A grant from The National Public Fund for Study Abroad and CSC Scholarship (Grant No. 202008360179), the Open Project of Key Laboratory of Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Diseases, Ministry of Education (No. XN201804), Science and Technology Research Project of Education Department of Jiangxi Province (No.170865), and Gannan Medical University Project (No. YB201803), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81860337, 81960326, and 82060384) supported this study.