Global trend of organoid implementation for hepatocellular carcinoma research (2005–2024): bibliometric analysis

Introduction
In recent years, organoids have been increasingly used in the study of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The purpose of this study is to analyse the research field of HCC organoids through bibliometrics, and to determine the key themes, trends, and contributions in this field.

Aim
This study analyses global HCC organoid research trends from 2005 to 2024 to identify key developments and future directions.

Material and methods
We screened literature on HCC and organoids from the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) database from 2005 to 2024. CiteSpace and VOSviewer were used to visualise the bibliometric indicators.

Results
The 267 articles analysed in this study came from 630 institutions in 40 countries/regions and were published in 149 journals. From 2005 to 2015, the number of publications continued to be low, and then entered a stage of rapid growth in 2016. The top three countries with the largest number of publications were China (128; 47.94%), the United States (65; 24.34%), and Germany (27; 10.11%). International Journal of Molecular Sciences is the journal with the largest number of publications. Van Der Laan Luc J. W. was the most prolific author.

Conclusions
HCC organoid research has grown significantly, led by China, the United States, and Germany, focusing on model optimisation, molecular mechanisms, targeted therapy, and drug resistance, with emerging trends in long-term culture systems and patient-derived organoids.