Magnetic resonance imaging of white matter in Alzheimer's disease: a global bibliometric analysis from 1990 to 2022

BackgroundAlzheimer's disease (AD) is a common, progressive, irreversible, and fatal neurodegenerative disorder with rapidly increasing worldwide incidence. Although much research on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the white matter (WM) in AD has been published, no bibliometric analysis study has investigated this issue. Thus, this study aimed to provide an overview of the current status, hotspots, and trends in MRI of WM in AD. MethodsWe searched for records related to MRI studies of WM in AD from 1990 to 2022 in the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) database. CiteSpace (version 5.1.R8) and VOSviewer (version 1.6.19) software were used for bibliometric analyses. ResultsA total of 2,199 articles were obtained from this study. From 1990 to 2022, the number of published articles showed exponential growth of y = 4.1374e(0.1294x), with an average of 17.9 articles per year. The top country and institutions were the United States and the University of California Davis, accounting for 44.52 and 5.32% of the total studies, respectively. The most productive journal was Neurology, and the most co-cited journal was Lancet Neurology. Decarli C was the most productive author. The current research frontier trend focuses on the association between small vessel disease and AD, the clinical application and exploration of diffusion MRI, and related markers. ConclusionThis study provides an in-depth overview of publications on MRI of WM in AD, identifying the current research status, hotspots, and frontier trends in the field.

Automated summary

This study used bibliometric analysis to provide an overview of publications on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of white matter in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The results showed an exponential growth in the number of published articles from 1990 to 2022, with the United States and the University of California Davis being the most active country and institution, respectively. Neurology was the most productive journal, and the research frontier trends included the association between small vessel disease and AD, clinical application and exploration of diffusion MRI, and related markers.