Visual analysis of research hotspots in immunotherapy for esophageal cancer based on bibliometric methods

GAO Yan; MA Xiaoli; WEI Yu; CAO Leiyu; QU Chengcheng; ZHANG Li

doi:10.13276/j.issn.2097-1656.2026.04.013

Abstract：Objective To conduct a visualization analysis of the research status,development trends,and hot topics in the field of esophageal cancer immunotherapy over the past decade,aiming to help researchers systematically understand research dynamics in this field.Methods We retrieved relevant publications on esophageal cancer immunotherapy from the Web of Science Core Collection published between January 2014 and October 2024.Using VOSviewer 1.6.17 and CiteSpace 6.2.R3,we performed visualization analysis of countries,authors,institutions,journals,citations,and keywords to identify research hotspots and evolutionary trends.Results A total of 836 articles were included,showing a continuous growth in annual publications.The most prolific author was PIESSEN G;the top three countries by publication volume were China,the United States,and France;key research institutions included Zhengzhou University,Tongji University,and Université de Lille.The top three journals by citation frequency were Clinical Cancer Research,Frontiers in Immunology,and International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics;the most cited article was"PD-L1 expression in human cancers and its association with clinical outcomes"by WANG X et al.High-frequency keywords included esophageal squamous cell carcinoma,survival,tumor microenvironment,and clinical trials.Research hotspots focused on the comprehensive efficacy of immunotherapy combined with radiochemotherapy,related clinical trials,and mechanisms of the tumor microenvironment.Conclusion Current research trends in esophageal cancer immunotherapy focus on exploring pathways to enhance efficacy,optimizing combination treatment regimens,and investigating the interaction mechanisms between the tumor microenvironment and immunotherapy.