Abstract
BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by persistent and progressive airflow restriction. Macrophages are essential for initiating and resolving inflammation, and repairing lung tissue among individuals with COPD. Research on COPD has been rapidly expanding. This study aims to employ bibliometric analysis to elucidate the role of macrophages in COPD, analyze research focal points in this domain, and speculate on future research trends. METHODS: VOSviewer and CiteSpace were used to visualize and analyze data for countries/regions, institutions, authors, journals, references, and keywords from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC), comprising publications between 2005 and 2025. RESULTS: Ultimately, 2,484 studies were included in the final analysis. The USA had published the largest literature, followed by China and England. Barnes PJ, Singh D, and Adcock I were the authors who published the majority of the articles. The institution with the highest publication volumes was Imperial College London. Co-occurrence and burst analysis of keywords and references highlighted the hotspots in this research area, and the timeline map of keywords clearly presents the dynamic evolution of research foci. The keywords are gradually shifting to "macrophage polarization", "oxidative stress", and "epigenetic regulation", reflecting that the research focus is developing towards analyzing complex cellular mechanisms and finding potential therapeutic targets. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, this bibliometric analysis highlights the growing understanding of the critical role of macrophages in COPD. In the future, precision medicine, integration of multi-omics, application of nanotechnology, combined treatment strategies, and research on the dynamic changes of diseases will be the key directions driving progress in this field.