Knowledge-map analysis of bladder cancer immunotherapy

Abstract Background This study aims to conduct the bibliometric and visual analyses in the field of bladder cancer (BC) immunotherapy, and explore the research trends, hotspots and frontiers from 2000 to 2021. Methods Data were obtained from the Web of Science core collection database, which collected 2,022 papers related to BC immunotherapy around the world from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2021. VOSviewer software was used to comprehensively analyze the collaborative relationships between authors, institutions, countries/regions, journals through citation, co-authorship, co-citation, etc., so as to identify research hotspots and frontiers in this research field. Results The trend of literature publication was relatively flat from 2000 to 2015, and since 2015, the literature publication showed an overall upward trend. The United States of America has published 643 papers with 27,241 citations, ranked first among the top 10 most active countries, and has the most extensive collaboration with other countries. The University of Texas MD Anderson CANC CTR has published 62 articles, making it the most published articles and active collaborative research institution. Kamat AM and Lamm DL were the most active and co-cited authors with 27 papers and 1,039 co-citations, respectively. Chang yuan and Xu le ranked first with 145 total link strength, becoming the most active collaborative authors. J UROLOGY was the most active and frequently co-cited journal, with 106 papers and 6,764 co-citations. Studies of BC immunotherapy can be divided into three categories: “basic research”, “clinical trial” and “prognosis”. Conclusions Our findings provide a comprehensive overview of the research priorities and future directions of BC immunotherapy. Tumor microenvironment and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) of BC, as well as the combination of ICIs and other drugs may become the main direction of future research.