Research Trends, Knowledge Evolution and Pharmacological Advances of Cordyceps cicadae: A Bibliometric Analysis

Cordyceps cicadae (C. cicadae), an entomopathogenic medicinal fungus widely used in traditional Chinese medicine, has attracted growing scientific interest due to its diverse reported pharmacological activities. Despite increasing research activity, a comprehensive bibliometric assessment of global publication trends and research hotspots remains limited. This study aimed to analyze publication trends, research characteristics, and thematic developments in English-language publications on C. cicadae indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). Relevant publications covering the period 1990–2025 were retrieved, yielding 192 eligible records, including 188 original articles and four reviews. Bibliometric analyses were performed using VOSviewer(version 1.6.20), CiteSpace(version 6.3.R1), and Bibliometrix/Biblioshiny(version 4.3.3) to evaluate publication output, contributing countries, authors, journals, co-citation networks, keyword co-occurrence patterns, and thematic evolution. Annual publication output remained relatively low in the early years but increased markedly after 2018. China accounted for the largest proportion of publications, while researchers such as Chen Chin-Chu, Li Wei, and Ouyang Zhen were among the notable contributors. Co-citation and keyword analyses identified the isolation and characterization of bioactive constituents and the investigation of pharmacological activities as major research themes. More recent research topics included immunomodulation, antioxidant activity, renal and hepatoprotective effects, gut microbiota modulation, and multi-omics-based mechanistic investigations. Overall, this study provides a systematic overview of the research landscape of C. cicadae and identifies emerging topics that may inform future investigations into cultivation strategies, bioactive constituents, pharmacological mechanisms, and potential biomedical applications.