SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Med.
Sec. Infectious Diseases: Pathogenesis and Therapy
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1516450
Bibliometric Analysis and Visualization Mapping of Herpes Zoster Vaccine Publications from 1999 to 2024
Provisionally accepted
- 1Graduate School of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China
- 2Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
- 3Tianjin Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated Hospital, Tianjin, China
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Background: Herpes Zoster (HZ) is a viral skin disease caused by reactivation of latent Varicella Zoster Virus (VZV) in human ganglia, presenting with unilateral neuropathic pain and vesicular rash. HZ imposes significant burden on patients and healthcare systems, often complicated by postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). The live attenuated zoster vaccine (ZVL, Zostavax) reduces HZ risk by 51% and PHN by 65% in adults ≥60 years. The recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV, Shingrix) shows ~90% efficacy in adults ≥50 years. Despite withdrawal of Zostavax from the U.S. market, RZV uptake remains suboptimal due to vaccine hesitancy and provider knowledge gaps. This study aims to analyze global research trends on HZ vaccines using bibliometric methods. Methods: Publications on "herpes zoster" and "zoster vaccine" were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database (1999-2024). Bibliometric and visualization tools including CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and R-bibliometrix were applied to analyze contributions by countries, institutions, journals, authors, references, and keywords. Results: A total of 719 articles from 261 journals across 56 countries were included. The United States led publications, with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) as the top institution. Vaccine was the most prolific journal; Myron J. Levin was the most productive author. The most cited article, "Efficacy of the Herpes Zoster Subunit Vaccine in Adults Aged 70 Years or Older," by Cunningham AL, appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine. Frequently used keywords included "herpes zoster," "vaccination," "postherpetic neuralgia," "efficacy," "subunit vaccine," and "safety." Conclusion: This bibliometric study comprehensively summarizes HZ vaccine research over 25 years, offering insights to guide future research and clinical practice.
Keywords: Herpes Zoster, Zostavax, Shingrix, Citespace, VOSviewer
Received: 06 Nov 2024; Accepted: 26 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gao, Gao, Li, Li, Yao and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Junling Zhang, Tianjin Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated Hospital, Tianjin, 300120, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.