AUTHOR=Zhu Chenchen , Zhong Weiquan , Gong Chan , Chen Binglin , Guo Jiabao 

TITLE=Global research trends on epigenetics and neuropathic pain: A bibliometric analysis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 16 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/molecular-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnmol.2023.1145393

DOI=10.3389/fnmol.2023.1145393

ISSN=1662-5099

ABSTRACT=Objective: Neuropathic pain (NP) is a common disease that manifests itself with pathological changes in the somatosensory system. In recent years, interactions of NP with the epigenetic mechanism are increasingly being elucidated. However, few studies have used bibliometric tools to analyze the knowledge of this field systematically. The purpose of this study is to visually analyze the trends, hotspots, and frontiers in epigenetics and NP research by using a bibliometric method.
Methods: Studies related to epigenetics and NP were searched from the Science Citation Index-Expanded of the Web of Science Core Collection database. The search time is from inception to November 30, 2022. No restrictions on language. Only articles and reviews were included as document types. Data on institutions, countries, authors, journal distribution and keywords were imported into CiteSpace software for visual analysis.
Results: 867 publications met the inclusion criteria, which spanned the period from 2000 to 2022. Over the years, the number of publications and the frequency of citations showed a clear upward trend in general, reaching a peak in 2021. The major contributing countries in terms of the number of publications were China, the United States, and Japan. The top three institutions are Rutgers State University, Xuzhou Medical University, and Nanjing Medical University. Molecular Pain, Pain, and Journal of Neuroinflammation contributed significantly to the volume of issuance. Among the top 10 authors in terms of the number of publications, Tao Yuan-Xiang contributed 30 entries, followed by Zhang Yi with 24 and Wu Shao-Gen with 20. Based on the burst and clusters of keywords, “DNA methylation”, “Circular RNA”, “acetylation”, “long non-coding RNA” and “microglia” are global hotspots in the field. 
Conclusion: Based on the bibliometric analysis, the number of publications related to epigenetics and NP is showing a rapid increase. Keyword analysis shows that “DNA methylation”, “Circular RNA”, “acetylation”, “long non-coding RNA” and “microglia” are the most interesting terms for researchers in the field. More rigorous clinical trials and more studies exploring relevant mechanisms are needed in the future.