Trends and Hotspots: A Visualized Bibliometric Study on Macrophage Autophagy in Tuberculosis (2004–2024)

【Abstract】Background:Macrophages are the host cells of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and have long attracted attention as a breakthrough point in Mycobacterium tuberculosis treatment. And autophagy, one of the cell death modes, plays an important role in the pathogenesis and therapeutic research of tuberculosis. The aim of this study was to analyze the research progress about this field in global academic journals from 2004 to 2024 by bibliometric methods and to visualize and predict the future research direction in this field. Method：The Web of Science Core Collection database was searched and screened for relevant publications on the topic of tuberculosis-macrophage-autophagy from 2004 to 2024 (TS=”Tuberculosis” and ”Macrophage” and ”Autophagy”). These publications were analyzed and visualized in terms of country, institution, authors, cited authors, journals, cited journals, cited references, and keywords by means of in software such as CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and Scimago Graphica. Result：A total of 794 papers were screened; researchers from 54 countries, 980 institutions, and 267 journals were involved in the field. The ENGLAND had the highest Centrality. while The United States was the most productive country. The research institution with the highest number of publications was Chungnam Natl University. The author with the highest number of publications was Jo, Eun-Kyeong, while the author with the highest number of citations was GUTIERREZ MG. Among the many journals, FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY journal had the highest number of papers published, while the most cited journal was CELL. The most cited reference was an article by Watson RO; the cited reference with the greatest burst of intensity was a paper by GUTIERREZ MG published in Cell in 2004, which lasted from 2006 to 2009. Among the keywords, ”mycobacterium tuberculosis” was the most cited, and the keyword with the greatest burst intensity was ”toll like receptors”, which lasted from 2007 to 2013. Conclusion：This bibliometric study provides a comprehensive overview of the past 20 years of research advances in autophagy in macrophages as host cells for Mycobacterium tuberculosis in tuberculosis, providing an overview for scholars wishing to understand current trends and new research frontiers in the field.