The global scientific publications on gut microbiota in type 2 diabetes; a bibliometric, Scientometric, and descriptive analysis

Background Modifying gut dysbiosis has achieved great success in managing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and also T2DM affected the gut microbial composition. Objectives To determine the research trend of scientific publications on the relationship between gut microbiota and T2DM through a bibliometric and descriptive approach. Method We included originals and reviews related to both topics of gut microbiota and T2DM through searching in Scopus up to 31 December 2019 and then characterized their bibliometric profiles including the number of publications, citations, institutions, journals, countries, and the collaboration network of authors, countries, terms and keywords. Moreover, we performed a descriptive evaluation of the clinical trials based on their intervention type and its influence on gut dysbiosis. Results We achieved 877 articles (436 originals and 441 reviews) according to our inclusion criteria. The annual publications were constantly increased over time and reached 220 publications in 2019. Out of 436 original articles, 231 animal studies and 174 human studies were found. The majority of human studies were clinical trials ( n = 77) investigating the influence of drugs ( n = 21), regimens ( n = 21), pre/pro/symbiotic ( n = 19), surgeries ( n = 15), or both drug and regimen ( n = 1) on gut dysbiosis. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and metformin were assessed the most in these trials. Obesity side by side T2DM has been assessed in this area of literature based on term and keyword analyses showing their possible similar pathways mediated by gut microbiota. Conclusion The exponentially growing documents on gut microbiota and T2DM had been published during the last decade and revealed gut microbiota alteration mediated antidiabetic effect of many interventions. Thus, we suggest other researchers to consider this pathway in efficacy assessment of therapeutic modalities and to find the optimal composition of gut microbiota that guarantees healthy insulin sensitivity.