Decoding trends in mRNA vaccine research: A comprehensive bibliometric study

Figures & data

Figure 1. (a) Flowchart of the literature searching and screening in the study. (b) Global trend of publications and citations on mRNA vaccine.

Figure 2. The collaboration of countries/institutions in the field of mRNA vaccine. (a-b) Co-occurrence network of countries/institutions. (c) Geographical distribution of global publications.

Table 1. TOP10 productive countries and institutions regarding the research on application of lipid nanoparticles in mRNA vaccines.

Rank	Country	Centrality	Count	ACI	H-index	Institution	Centrality	Count	ACI	H-index
1	USA	0.07	1368	50.22	115	HARVARD UNIVERSITY	0.04	160	67.53	42
2	China	0.00	487	17.29	47	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SYSTEM	0.01	121	37.25	29
3	Italy	0.23	454	14.73	40	HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL	0.00	115	65.64	33
4	Germany	0.06	404	65.55	63	TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY	0.00	112	62.38	37
5	Japan	0.00	322	8.11	20	UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA	0.02	107	75.05	36
6	England	0.10	246	94.01	54	SACKLER FACULTY OF MEDICINE	0.00	103	61.52	34
7	Canada	0.07	190	28.74	36	UDICE FRENCH RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES	0.01	95	23.41	23
8	Israel	0.06	164	66.23	45	JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY	0.00	92	127.99	30
9	Spain	0.04	161	10.13	23	NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH NIH USA	0.00	88	88.66	34
10	France	0.30	158	20.56	30	UNIVERSITY OF LONDON	0.03	87	67.85	33

ACI, average citations per item; USA, the United States of America.

Figure 3. The collaboration of authors and co-cited authors in the field of mRNA vaccine. (a) Cooperation network among the authors. (b) Cooperation network among the co-cited authors.

Table 2. Top 10 productive authors and co-cited authors in the field of mRNA vaccine.

Rank	Author	Institution	Documents	ACI	H-index	Co-cited Author	Institution	Co-citations	H-index
1	Weissman, Drew	University of Pennsylvania	41	120.12	23	Sahin, Ugur	Suleyman Demirel University	3203	24
2	Pardi, Norbert	University of Pennsylvania	38	115.03	21	Tuereci, Oezlem	Tuereci, Oezlem	2940	17
3	Sahin, Ugur	Suleyman Demirel University	36	421.97	24	Dormitzer, P. R.	Pfizer	2876	10
4	Gaglani, Manjusha	Baylor Scott and White Health	32	50.53	14	Swanson, Kena A.	Pfizer	2676	7
5	Krammer, Florian	Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai	27	69.07	16	Cooper, David	Pfizer	2623	7
6	Tenforde, M. W.	Centers for Disease Control & Prevention	24	45.33	11	Jansen, Kathrin U.	Pfizer	2609	6
7	Tam, Ying K	Acuitas Therapeut	22	83.05	13	Absalon, J.	Pfizer	2303	4
8	Muramatsu, Hiromi	University of Pennsylvania	21	92.71	13	Bailey, Ruth	Pfizer	2303	4
9	Agrati, Chiara	Natl Inst Infect Dis	21	25.48	12	Gruber, William C.	Pfizer	2303	4
10	Alter, G.	MIT & Harvard, Ragon Inst MGH, Cambridge	21	38.38	10	Gurtman, Alejandra	Pfizer	2303	4

Figure 4. The collaboration of authors and institutions in the field of base modification in mRNA vaccines. (a) Cooperation network among the authors. (b) Co-occurrence network of institutions.

Figure 5. The collaboration of authors and institutions in the field of lipid nanoparticles in mRNA vaccines. (a) Cooperation network among the authors. (b) Cooperation network among the co-cited authors. (c) Co-occurrence network of institutions.

Table 3. TOP10 productive institutions regarding the research on base modification.

Rank	Count	Centrality	Year	Instiution	H-index	ACI
1	21	0.12	2006	Chinese Academy of Sciences	11	76.33
2	20	0.13	2000	Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)	11	59.75
3	16	0.06	2000	UDICE-French Research Universities	10	48.88
4	14	0.24	2001	University of California System	11	152.79
5	13	0.08	2000	National Institutes of Health (NIH) – USA	12	41.15
6	11	0.08	2000	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	8	82.64
7	11	0.11	2003	Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz	10	72.18
8	11	0.12	2005	University of Pennsylvania	10	231.18
9	10	0	2000	University of Utah	9	27.2
10	9	0	2010	University of Chicago	9	303.67

Table 4. TOP10 co-citations and productive author regarding the research on application of lipid nanoparticles in mRNA vaccines.

Rank	Author	Co-citations	Centrality	Year	Author	Count	Centrality	ACI	Year
1	Pardi N	179	0.13	2017	Weissman, Drew	19	0	124.47	2018
2	Sahin U	124	0.09	2017	Pardi, Norbert	16	0	91.83	2018
3	Polack Fp	108	0.03	2021	Tam, Ying K	11	0.01	85.56	2017
4	Karikó K	107	0.16	2017	Muramatsu, Hiromi	10	0	90.25	2018
5	Baden Lr	90	0.01	2021	Ciaramella, Giuseppe	8	0.01	248.5	2017
6	Hassett Kj	83	0.03	2021	Yuzhakov, Olga	7	0	191.43	2017
7	Hou Xc	79	0.03	2021	Song, Xiangrong	7	0	31.5	2021
8	Akinc A	76	0.06	2020	Tombacz, Istvan	7	0	144.83	2018
9	Richner Jm	75	0.07	2017	Kariko, Katalin	6	0.01	152.67	2018
10	Kowalski Ps	70	0.06	2020	Langer, Robert	6	0	297.83	2017

ACI, average citations per item.

Table 5. TOP10 productive institutions regarding the research on application of lipid nanoparticles in mRNA vaccines.

Rank	Count	Centrality	Year	Institution
1	27	0.16	2018	University of Pennsylvania
2	19	0.12	2018	Pennsylvania Medicine
3	10	0.2	2017	Karolinska Institutet
4	10	0.11	2020	Chinese Academy of Sciences
5	9	0.01	2022	Sichuan University
6	8	0.08	2017	Harvard University
7	8	0	2018	BioNTech SE
8	7	0.07	2017	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
9	7	0.07	2020	National Center for Nanoscience & Technology – China
10	6	0.15	2021	Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

Table 6. Top 10 productive journals in the field of mRNA vaccine.

Rank	Journal	Publications	Country	Impact factor (2022)	SCImago Journal Rank(2022)	JCR	H-index
1	Vaccines	444	Switzerland	7.8	1.655	Q1	36
2	Frontiers in Immunology	224	Switzerland	7.3	2.022	Q1	24
3	Vaccine	133	United Kingdom	5.5	1.493	Q2	21
4	Viruses-Basel	68	Switzerland	4.7	NA	Q2	10
5	Clinical Infectious Diseases	63	United Kingdom	11.8	3.995	Q1	18
6	Nature Communications	61	United Kingdom	16.6	5.116	Q1	22
7	Human Vaccines Immunotherapeutics	51	United States	4.8	1.041	Q1	9
8	Journal of Infectious Diseases	45	United Kingdom	6.4	2.386	Q1	13
9	Scientific Reports	39	United Kingdom	4.6	0.973	Q2	9
10	International Journal of Molecular Sciences	37	Switzerland	5.6	1.154	Q1	7

JCR, journal citation reports.

Figure 6. Visualization of the cited journals, co-citations journal, co-cited reference, and co-cited author analysis. (a) Co-occurrence network of cited journals. (b) Co-occurrence network of co-cited authors. (c) The dual-map overlay of articles citing mRNA vaccines. (The left side represents the citing journal, the right side represents the cited journal, and the lines indicate citation relationships).

Table 7. Top 10 co-cited journals in the field of mRNA vaccine.

Rank	Journal	Citations	Country	Impact Factor (2022)	SCImago Journal Rank(2022)	JCR	H-index
1	New England Journal of Medicine	12636	United States	158.5	26.015	Q1	22
2	Nature	7408	United Kingdom	64.8	20.957	Q1	23
3	Science	4504	United States	56.9	13.328	Q1	10
4	Lancet	4423	United Kingdom	168.9	14.607	Q1	11
5	Cell	4151	United States	64.5	26.494	Q1	14
6	Vaccine	4125	United Kingdom	5.5	1.493	Q2	21
7	Nature Medicine	3621	United Kingdom	82.9	24.678	Q1	18
8	Viruses-Basel	3257	Switzerland	4.7	NA	Q2	10
9	Frontiers in Immunology	3027	Switzerland	7.3	2.022	Q1	24
10	Nature Communications	2825	United Kingdom	16.6	5.116	Q1	22

JCR, journal citation reports.

Table 8. Top 10 highly cited publications in the field of mRNA vaccine.

Rank	Title	Citation	Year	Journal	Type	Impact Factor (2022)
1	Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine	8159	2020	New England Journal of Medicine	Article	158.5
2	mRNA vaccines – a new era in vaccinology	1949	2018	Nature Reviews Drug Discovery	Review	120.1
3	An mRNA Vaccine against SARS-CoV-2-Preliminary Report	1939	2020	New England Journal of Medicine	Article	158.5
4	BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine in a Nationwide Mass Vaccination Setting	1540	2021	New England Journal of Medicine	Article	158.5
5	Safety and Immunogenicity of Two RNA-Based COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates	1504	2020	New England Journal of Medicine	Article	158.5
6	Covid-19 Vaccine Effectiveness against the Omicron (B.1.1.529) Variant	1072	2022	New England Journal of Medicine	Article	158.5
7	COVID-19 vaccine BNT162b1 elicits human antibody and TH1 T cell responses	1012	2020	Nature	Article	64.8
8	Phase I/II study of COVID-19 RNA vaccine BNT162b1 in adults	925	2020	Nature	Article	64.8
9	Safety and Immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 Vaccine in Older Adults	902	2020	New England Journal of Medicine	Article	158.5
10	Covid-19 Breakthrough Infections in Vaccinated Health Care Workers	838	2021	New England Journal of Medicine	Article	158.5

Table 9. Top 10 highly cited Non-COVID publications in the field of mRNA vaccine.

Rank	Title	Citation	Year	Journal	Type	Impact Factor (2022)
1	mRNA vaccines – a new era in vaccinology	2235	2018	Nature Reviews Drug Discovery	Review	120.1
2	Mutant MHC class II epitopes drive therapeutic immune responses to cancer	835	2015	Nature	Article	64.8
3	Zika virus protection by a single low-dose nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccination	584	2017	Nature	Article	64.8
4	Modified mRNA Vaccines Protect against Zika Virus Infection	551	2017	Cell	Article	64.5
5	Lipid Nanoparticle Assisted mRNA Delivery for Potent Cancer Immunotherapy	465	2017	Nano Letters	Article	10.8
6	An RNA vaccine drives immunity in checkpoint-inhibitor-treated melanoma	460	2020	Nature	Article	64.8
7	Advances in the delivery of RNA therapeutics: from concept to clinical reality	438	2017	Genome Medicine	Review	12.3
8	Nonviral delivery of self-amplifying RNA vaccines	429	2012	Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America	Article	11.1
9	Preclinical and Clinical Demonstration of Immunogenicity by mRNA Vaccines against H10N8 and H7N9 Influenza Viruses	414	2017	Molecular Therapy	Article	12.4
10	Advances in mRNA Vaccines for Infectious Diseases	408	2019	Frontiers In Immunology	Review	7.3

Figure 7. Network on keywords in the field of mRNA vaccines. (a) VOSviewer cluster visualization of keywords. (b) Cluster diagrams of keywords. (c) Visualization of keywords according to the average publication year (APY).