Research trends and hotspots of the applications of single-cell RNA sequencing in cardiovascular diseases: a bibliometric and visualized study

Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading causes of death globally. The use of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) in CVDs has gained significant attention in recent years, and there is a growing body of literature on the subject. However, a thorough and impartial analysis of the existing state and trends of scRNA-seq in CVDs is lacking. This study aims to examine the development of scRNA-seq in CVDs using bibliometric and visualized analysis. Methods: Global publications on scRNA-seq and CVDs from 2009 to 2023 were extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database. The R package “Bibliometrix”, VOSviewer, and CiteSpace were employed to perform a bibliometric study. Results: After applying the screening criteria and omitting documents that met exclusive criteria, this bibliometric study included 1,170 papers. These were authored by 8,595 scholars from 1,565 organizations in 57 countries or regions and were published in 369 journals, with 51,073 co-cited references included. Publication volume, citations, and relative research interest index focusing on this field have dramatically increased since 2019. The cooperation network showed that the USA, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and Qingbo Xu were the most active country, institute, and author in this field, respectively. Circulation Research was the journal with the most publications, which was confirmed to be the top core source by Bradford’s Law. The hotspots and emerging direction in the field manifest in (1) three CVDs (atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, and heart failure) and (2) three cell types (macrophage, fibroblast, and smooth muscle cell). Conclusions: Our study provides a systematic visualization of the research literature on scRNA-seq in CVDs and provides guidance and reference for understanding the current research status and discovering new research directions.