Celebrating 25 years of briefings in bioinformatics: a comprehensive bibliometric analysis

Over the past 25 years, Briefings in Bioinformatics (BIB) has been the leading journal in the bioinformatics field. To commemorate this milestone and trace the journal's academic trajectory, we conducted a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of 4185 BIB publications published between 2000 and 2024. The publications were retrieved from Elsevier's Scopus. Since 2021, the annual number of citations has increased prominently, peaking in 2024 (n = 30 729). These publications have accumulated a total of 183 911 citations, including 364 publications that have received more than 100 citations. The most cited article was published by Kumar et al. (2004) and it has received 10 750 citations. The 4185 publications were contributed by 4140 authors from 79 countries/regions, reflecting BIB's international characteristics. In terms of the total number of publications (TP) and the total number of citations (TC), China (TP = 2085; TC = 58 851), the United States (TP = 1120; TC = 67 000), and the United Kingdom (TP = 329; TC = 16 581) were the leading countries. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (TP = 216; TC = 6200), Central South University (TP = 112; TC = 3079), and Zhejiang University (TP = 105; TC = 3503) were the leading affiliations. Zou, Quan (TP = 64; TC = 3023), Song, Jiangning (TP = 58; TC = 2652), and Wu, Rongling (TP = 35; TC = 633) were the leading authors. Collaboration has intensified over time, with the median number of authors per publication rising from two in 2000-2004 to five in 2020-2024. The research focus of BIB has shifted from foundational bioinformatics and database development to integrative multi-omics analysis and AI-driven biomedical research. As BIB develops, its international impact will continue to grow, solidifying its pivotal role in shaping the future of bioinformatics research.