Mapping the current trends and hotspots of vascular cognitive impairment from 2000–2021: A bibliometric analysis

AIMS: To visualize the trends and hotspots in the scientific research related to vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) quantitatively and qualitatively. METHODS: Cross‐sectional bibliometric analysis of publications that related to VCI was conducted. Publications were found by searching in the Web of Science Core Collection database (WoSCC) – Edition: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI‐Expanded) from January 2000 to December 2021. Publication type was restricted to article and review in the English language. The downloaded data were screened and analyzed in January 2022. RESULTS: In total, 16,264 publications were identified, with a steady increase in annual publications. The United States was the leading country in VCI research regarding publication numbers and national influence. National Institute of Aging had the highest influence among all the institutes in the field of VCI. Philip Scheltens was the most active author. The top five active authors' publications focused on pathobiology, neuroimaging standards, risk factors, prevention, and the standard diagnosis of vascular dementia (VaD). A co‐cited publication clustering resulted in 19 main clusters, and the prevention, blood–brain barrier, cholesterol, cerebral amyloid angiopathy, and VaD were the top 5 clusters. Moreover, burst keywords detection revealed that the “small vessel disease” is the current hotspot in the field of VCI. CONCLUSIONS: This bibliometric analysis mapped the overall research structure of VCI and analyzed the current research trends and hotspots for future studies orientation. Neuroimaging, risk factors detection, and pathobiology are the current trends in VCI research. Small vessel disease and its mechanisms are the current hotspots of VCI research.