Bibliometric and Visual Analysis of Research on the Links Between the Gut Microbiota and Depression From 1999 to 2019

Background: There is a crucial link between the gut microbiota and the host central nervous system, and the communication between them occurs via a bidirectional pathway termed the “microbiota-gut-brain axis.” The gut microbiome in the modern environment has markedly changed in response to environmental factors. These changes may affect a broad range of host psychiatric disorders, such as depression, by interacting with the host through metabolic, immune, neural, and endocrine pathways. Nevertheless, the general aspects of the links between the gut microbiota and depression have not been systematically investigated through bibliometric analysis. Aim: This study aimed to analyze the current status and developing trends in gut microbiota research in the depression field through bibliometric and visual analysis. Methods: A total of 1,962 publications published between 1999 and 2019 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. CiteSpace (5.6 R5) was used to perform collaboration network analysis, co-citation analysis, co-occurrence analysis, and citation burst detection. Results: The number of publications has been rapidly growing since 2010. The collaboration network analysis revealed that the USA, University College Cork, and John F. Cryan were the most influential country, institute, and scholar, respectively. The most productive and co-cited journals were Brain Behavior and Immunity and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, respectively. The co-citation analysis of references revealed that the most recent research focus was in the largest theme cluster, “cytokines,” thus reflecting the important research foundation in this field. The co-occurrence analysis of keywords revealed that “fecal microbiota” and “microbiome” have become the top two research hotspots since 2013. The citation burst detection for keywords identified several keywords, including “Parkinson's disease,” “microbiota-gut-brain axis,” “microbiome,” “dysbiosis,” “bipolar disorder,” “impact,” “C reactive protein,” and “immune system,” as new research frontiers, which have currently ongoing bursts. Conclusions: These results provide an instructive perspective on the current research and future directions in the study of the links between the gut microbiota and depression, which may help researchers choose suitable cooperators or journals, and promote their research illustrating the underlying molecular mechanisms of depression, including its etiology, prevention, and treatment.