The research landscape of immunology research in spinal cord injury from 2012 to 2022

Abstract

BackgroundSpinal cord injury (SCI) is defined as traumatic damage to the spinal cord, affecting over three million patients worldwide, and there is still no treatment for the injured spinal cord itself. In recent years, immunology research on SCI has been published in various journals.MethodsTo systematically analyze the research hotspots and dynamic scientific developments of immunology research in SCI, we conducted a bibliometric and knowledge map analysis to help researchers gain a global perspective in this research field.ResultsThe bibliometric study we completed included 1788 English‐language papers published in 553 journals by 8861 authors from 1901 institutions in 66 countries/regions. Based on the references and keyword analysis, researchers in the past 10 years have mainly focused on the research directions of “monocyte chemoattractor protein 1,” “nitric oxide,” “pain,” and “nitric oxide synthase” related to immunological research in SCI. However, with the development of other new directions such as “extracellular vesicles” (2019–2022), “Regenerative medicine” (2019–2022), “stromal cells” (2018–2022), “motor recovery” (2019–2022), and “glial activation” (2019–2022). Researchers prefer to study the application of regenerative strategies in SCI, the mechanism of extracellular vesicles in the development of SCI, the activation of spinal glial cells in SCI, and the pathways of motor recovery. This bibliometric analysis of immunology research in SCI summarizes the current status of this research field. The relationship between extracellular vesicles, regenerative medicine, stromal cells, motor recovery, and glial activation is currently a major research frontier. Further research and cooperation worldwide need to be enhanced.ConclusionWe believe that our research can help researchers quickly grasp the current hotspot of immunology research in SCI and determine a new direction for future research.