Iranian Journal of Medical Microbiology

Background and Aim: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic intestinal inflammatory disease Loss of tolerance to intestinal microorganisms and abnormal intestinal immunity that lead to intestinal mucosa inflammation are its characteristics. This study aimed to evaluate the global research trends (2014–2023) on the effect of probiotics on IBD, focusing on publication patterns, subject areas, involved countries, and citations.
Materials and Methods: In this study, Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus databases and VOSviewer software were used for bibliometric analysis. Studies covering the years 2014-2023 and keywords ‘microbiome’ OR ‘microbiota’ OR ‘gut microbiota’ OR ‘intestinal microbiome’ OR ‘dysbiosis’ OR ‘probiotics’ AND ‘IBD’ OR ‘Inflammatory Bowel Disease’ OR ‘Ulcerative colitis’ OR ‘Enterocolitis’ OR ‘Crohn's Disease’ in the title were included. Based on the analysis, the current situation on this topic has been determined.
Results: A total of 255,236 and 12,286 scientific documents were identified in the Web of Science and the Scopus, respectively between 2014-2023 years worldwide. Gastroenterology and Hepatology followed by Microbiology are the disciplines with the most studies in this field. The most frequently used keywords include “Probiotics”, “Inflammatory Bowel Disease”, “Gut Microbiota”, and “Ulcerative Colitis”. Recent studies address topics such as epigenetics, metabolites, and fecal microbiota transplantation.
Conclusion: This study shows that further research into the links between the microbiota and inflammatory bowel diseases could improve the clinical application and treatment strategies of probiotics. Future research focusing on epigenetic and molecular regulatory mechanisms could contribute to the development of new approaches in this field.