Biologic therapy for Crohn’s disease over the last 3 decades

BACKGROUND: Despite the overload of publications on Crohn’s disease (CD), no comprehensive analysis of biologic therapy for CD has been reported. AIM: To determine knowledge gaps and identify areas of interest of biologic therapy for CD. METHODS: The top 100 highest-cited original articles were identified from January 1991 to December 2020 in the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science Core Collection database. We conducted a bibliometric analysis of biologic therapy for CD based on total citations, summarized the bibliographic information of the articles related to CD biologic therapy, and explored the research hotspots. RESULTS: The top 100 highest-cited original articles were identified with total citations ranging from 307 to 2978. The 2000s (Period II, n = 66) yielded the most influential original articles and saw the most dramatic growth. Among the top 10 countries, including 8 European countries and 2 North American countries, the United States (n = 37) and Belgium (n = 20) contributed the most publications. Among the top 10 institutions, the University Hospital Gasthuisberg in Belgium (n = 23), the University of Chicago in the United States (n = 20), and the Mayo Clinic in the United States (n = 17) published the most papers. Regarding authors, Rutgeerts P in Belgium (n = 32), Sandborn WJ in the United States (n = 23), and Feagan BG in Canada (n = 18) published the highest number of studies. The cooperation relationships between the United States and Europe were most frequent. Gastroenterology (impact factor = 22.682) published the most articles on biologic therapy for CD (n = 32) with 17654 total citations. Anti-tumor necrosis factor biologics and monoclonal antibodies were the most studied topics. CONCLUSION: The bibliometric analysis emphasized the key contributions to the development of the specialized field. These data would provide useful research insights into biologic therapy for CD for clinicians and researchers.