Abstract
Acute lung injury (ALI) is an intractable disorder associated with macrophages. This bibliometric analysis was applied to identify the characteristics of global scientific output, the hotspots, and frontiers about macrophages in ALI over the past 10 years. We retrieved publications published from 2011 to 2020 and their recorded information from Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-expanded) of Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). Bibliometrix package was used to analyze bibliometric indicators, and the VOSviewer was used to visualize the trend and hotspots of researches on macrophages in ALI. Altogether, 2,632 original articles were reviewed, and the results showed that the annual number of publications (Np) concerning the role of macrophages in ALI kept increasing over the past 10 years. China produced the most papers, the number of citations (Nc) and H-index of the USA ranked first. Shanghai Jiaotong University and INT IMMUNOPHARMACOL were the most prolific affiliation and journal, respectively. Papers published by Matute-Bello G in 2011 had the highest local citation score (LCS). Recently, the keywords “NLRP3” and “extracellular vesicles” appeared most frequently. Besides, researches on COVID-19–induced ALI related to macrophages seemed to be the hotspot recently. This bibliometric study revealed that publications related to macrophages in ALI tend to increase continuously. China was a big producer and the USA was an influential country in this field. Most studies were mainly centered on basic researches in the past decade, and pathways associated with the regulatory role of macrophages in inhibiting and attenuating ALI have become the focus of attention in more recent studies. What is more, our bibliometric analysis showed that macrophages play an important role in COVID-19–induced ALI and may be a target for the treatment of COVID-19.
Highlights
Acute lung injury (ALI), leading to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), is a common critical disease resulting from sepsis, pneumonia, trauma, acute pancreatitis, and inhalation of gastric contents
These findings indicate that research on macrophages in ALI has become the focus of attention and entered a stage of rapid development
Compared with China, the USA had a relatively high number of citations (Nc) and H-index. This was because the important function of pulmonary alveolar macrophages in the inflammation and resolution of ALI was initially proposed by American scholars [28] and the USA went deeper in this field as compared with the rest of the world
Summary
Acute lung injury (ALI), leading to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), is a common critical disease resulting from sepsis, pneumonia, trauma, acute pancreatitis, and inhalation of gastric contents. The main pathophysiology of ALI is characterized by diffuse alveolar injury, pulmonary edema, and excessive inflammatory response [1, 2]. In response to various signals (such as microorganisms, damaged tissues and activated lymphocytes), macrophages may polarize into classical M1 or alternative M2 with different functional phenotypes [3]. Both of them play a central role in the development and progression of ALI [4]. It is significant to quantitatively analyze the status quo, focus areas, and future prospects related to macrophages in ALI
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