Abstract
BACKGROUND: Esophageal malignant tumors are highly aggressive gastrointestinal tumors dominated by epidermal squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, which are characterized by insidious early symptoms, easy recurrence and metastasis, and poor prognosis. Conventional therapies do not respond well, and neoadjuvant immunotherapy offers a new treatment modality. This study uses bibliometrics to help clinicians grasp the current status, recent progress, and emerging trends in the field, serving as a reference for future research. METHODS: A total of 562 articles included in the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) database were searched to systematically review the global research trends of neoadjuvant immunotherapy for esophageal cancer (EC) from January 2008 to December 2024. Bibliometric analysis was carried out by "R Studio", "CiteSpace 5.8 R5", "VOSviewer 1.6.19", and other software, and multi-dimensional analysis of researchers, institutions, countries, and published literature was performed. RESULTS: The investigation of neoadjuvant immunotherapy for EC has become a central focus within the field, experiencing significant advancements in recent years. China and the United States have played a leading role in research in this area, while the contributions of the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan have steadily increased. Immunotherapy mode, efficacy evaluation, and biomarker exploration are current research hotspots. CONCLUSIONS: In the future, we should continue to strengthen global cooperation in this field and further promote the development of large-scale phase III multicenter clinical trials. We need to establish standardized efficacy evaluation criteria and explore more clinically significant biomarkers.