Bibliometric Analysis of Gut Microbiota and Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Research Trends and Frontiers

Abstract

Background The gut microbiota plays a pivotal role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) pathogenesis via the gut-liver axis. Existing gut microbiota-HCC studies are mostly narrative, with three critical knowledge gaps: lack of data-driven global research mapping, unclear staged field evolution, and insufficient quantitative identification of research frontiers. This bibliometric study aims to fill these gaps by systematically quantifying field-wide research trends, hotspots and frontiers. Methods A bibliometric analysis was performed including 1383 English original and review articles (2010–2026) retrieved from WOSCC and PubMed. Bibliometrix, VOSviewer, and CiteSpace were applied to conduct co-authorship and co-citation analysis for countries, institutions and authors, keyword co-occurrence, clustering and burst detection. Bibliometric metrics including Bradford’s law, Lotka’s law, h-index, g-index and m-index were applied to analyse publication trends, research outputs, journal-author features and research hotspots. Results Annual publications increased by 26.95%, with 22.49% international collaboration. China led output (679 papers) but with lower citation impact, while the USA (299 papers) dominated high-quality research. Close domestic academic connections were observed within Chinese and US institutional clusters, whereas cross-national cooperation between Chinese and US institutions remained limited. Top productive institutions were mainly from China, while US institutions exhibited superior citation performance. Journal distribution followed Bradford’s law, with Frontiers-series open-access journals dominating the core journal zone. Keyword clustering revealed three successive macro research phases: early association studies (2010–2017), gut-liver axis mechanism exploration (2018–2021), and current focus on microbial metabolites and immunotherapy modulation (2022–2026). Conclusion The field shows rapid expansion with a China–USA dual research high-output research pattern, shifting toward microbial metabolites and microbiota-targeted immunotherapy. This work provides comprehensive quantitative data to compensate for missing panoramic and staged analyses in prior literature; future advances rely on causal mechanism verification, large-scale clinical trials and strengthened international collaboration.