Research landscape and emerging themes of ferroptosis in sepsis-associated acute kidney injury: a bibliometric and science-mapping analysis (2016–2025)

Abstract

Background Ferroptosis has received increasing attention as a regulated cell-death process potentially involved in sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (SA-AKI). However, the structure, development, and thematic evolution of the SA-AKI–ferroptosis literature have not been clearly characterized. This study aimed to map the publication landscape, collaboration patterns, knowledge base, and emerging research themes in this field using bibliometric and science-mapping approaches. Methods The Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) was used as the primary bibliometric database, and PubMed was used as an independent sensitivity check. A revised search strategy linked an SA-AKI concept block with a ferroptosis concept block using the Boolean operator AND, without using GPX4, ACSL4, SLC7A11, or other molecular markers as stand-alone search alternatives. Articles and reviews published from 2016 to 2025 were screened for substantive relevance to both SA-AKI and ferroptosis. The final WoSCC corpus was analyzed using VOSviewer 1.6.21 and CiteSpace 6.4. R2 for publication trends, collaboration networks, keyword co-occurrence, source co-citation, reference co-citation, clustering, timeline visualization, and burst detection. Results Ninety-four WoSCC articles and reviews were assessed for eligibility, of which 68 were included in the final bibliometric corpus. Eligible publications first appeared in 2021 and increased from 2 publications in 2021 to 32 in 2025, with 50 of 68 publications (73.5%) published during 2024–2025. China contributed to 64 of 68 publications, whereas international collaboration remained limited. After keyword harmonization, 23 keywords entered the co-occurrence analysis; the most frequent were “ferroptosis,” “acute kidney injury,” “sepsis,” and “sepsis-associated acute kidney injury,” with Nrf2, GPX4, lipid peroxidation, oxidative stress, and related regulatory processes also represented. The reference co-citation network comprised 203 nodes and 858 links and formed 9 clusters (modularity Q = 0.5721; weighted mean silhouette S = 0.8355), connecting the clinical and pathophysiologic literature on SA-AKI with foundational ferroptosis biology and more recent SA-AKI-specific mechanistic studies. The co-cited-source network included 43 sources and 903 links. No sustained reference or keyword bursts were detected using a minimum duration of 2 years; only short 2024–2025 signals emerged in sensitivity analyses using a 1-year minimum duration. Conclusion Research on ferroptosis in SA-AKI represents a relatively young and rapidly expanding literature that is highly concentrated geographically and characterized by limited international collaboration. Current knowledge structures link established ferroptosis biology with SA-AKI-specific experimental studies, while recent keyword patterns emphasize oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, Nrf2/GPX4-related regulation, and related cellular processes. The limited duration of citation bursts and the predominance of preclinical literature indicate that the field remains in an early stage of development, and bibliometric signals should not be interpreted as evidence of established clinical translation.