Knowledge Mapping of Aspergillus-Related Research in Respiratory Medicine: A Bibliometric Analysis Based on English-Language Articles Spanning 1975 to 2022

Abstract

Background: Aspergillus has become the second most common causative agent of invasive fungal infections and is the leading cause of death from fungal infections. Methods: English-language publications ranging from 1975 to 2022 collected from the Web of Science Core Collection database were analyzed visually using VOSviewer, R package Bibliometrix, Scimago graphic, Gephi, Pajek, and Microsoft Excel 365. Literature search using the advanced search function in WoSCC with the search formula “TS=(Aspergillus).” The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) article type = article; (2) time span = 1975–2022; (3) topic = “Medical Mycology”; (4) research field = “Respiratory System, Internal Medicine”; (5) language type = English. Results: As of February 21, 2023, studies of Aspergillus in respiratory medicine included 1065 articles with 41,308 cumulative citations. The United States ranked first in terms of the highest number of publications (n = 320). Udice French Research University was the institution with the highest number of publications (n = 40). The author with the highest number of publications was Denning (n = 32). Based on the CiteSpace analysis result, the keywords with the nature of a Burst Citation were “epidemiology,” “chronic pulmonary aspergillosis,” “galactomannan,” “guideline,” “sensitization,” and “randomized trail.” Besides the keywords, it was found that as of 2022, only the topics “allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis” and “invasive pulmonary aspergillosis” are still active with a large number of papers published, according to the results of the CiteSpace analysis of the cited literature. Conclusions: The bibliometric results indicated the current hot research hotspots of Aspergillus were as follows: (1) research directly related to Aspergillus (epidemiology, risk factors, early diagnosis methods, and methods of novel antifungal treatment, e.g., galactomannan); (2) studying coinfections of Aspergillus with other pathogens: For example, COVID-19 could focus on studying the immune status of patients with COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) to guide individualized immunotherapy and individualized management of patients with CAPA.