SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Translational Neuroscience
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnins.2025.1634999
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Nerve Repair and RegenerationView all articles
Frontiers of optic nerve regeneration research: An analysis of the top 100 most influential articles in the field from 2005 to 2025
Provisionally accepted
XXX Saijilafu1
Peng Chen2
Lingchen Ye2Yuxi Shen1Qi Wang1Xuanwen Chen1Junqian Zhang1Chimedragchaa Chimedtseren3Linjun Fang1
Renjie Xu2*- 1Hangzhou City University, Hangzhou, China
- 2Suzhou Municipal Hospital, Suzhou, China
- 3Institute of Traditional Medicine and Technology of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
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Objective: In this study, we evaluated the key features of the 100 most-cited publications on optic nerve regeneration from 2005 to 2025 employing bibliometric and visual analysis. Methods: The data for this study were obtained from a comprehensive search across multiple databases, including the Web of Science, Scopus, and Dimensions. We identified the top 100 most-cited articles published in each database from 2005 to 2025, merged and deduplicated the results, and selected the 100 most-cited papers on optic nerve regeneration. After extracting key details such as titles, authors, keywords, publication information, and institutional affiliations, a bibliometric analysis was conducted. Results: The top 100 most cited papers on optic nerve regeneration published between 2005 and 2025, accumulating 34,636 total citations with a median of 346 citations per paper. Prof. Zhigang He emerged as the most prolific author with 19 publications. The United States contributed 59 papers, while Harvard University led institutions with 30 publications. Key research themes included optic nerve regeneration, CNTF, gene therapy, and retinal ganglion cells. Conclusion: Our analysis of top-cited optic nerve regeneration research reveals sustained US leadership in output and innovation. Early work focused on neuronal signaling pathways (PTEN/mTOR, KLF family), while current studies explore novel targets and biomaterials. Global collaboration among the US, China, and European nations has accelerated progress. Key challenges remain in achieving functional long-distance regeneration. Future direction should prioritize the development of multi-target therapeutic methods, precise drug delivery, and the control of inflammation to improve nerve regeneration efficiency.
Keywords: optic nerve regeneration, bibliometric analysis, Web of Science Core Collection, VOSviewer, Citespace
Received: 28 May 2025; Accepted: 11 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Saijilafu, Chen, Ye, Shen, Wang, Chen, Zhang, Chimedtseren, Fang and Xu. 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: Renjie Xu, Suzhou Municipal Hospital, Suzhou, 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.