Abstract:

Objective To understand the research progress of schistosome circulating antigen studies globally and domestically for reference for schistosomiasis diagnosis in China. Methods Literature on schistosome circulating antigen published between 1990 and 2024 was retrieved from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Web of Science (WoS). CiteSpace was used for visual co-occurrence, clustering and burst analysis of authors, institutions and keywords. Results In total, 264 Chinese and 498 English articles were retrieved. Chinese publications showed an initial increase followed by a decline, whereas English literature demonstrated a steady upward trend. In the Chinese publications, Lou Wenxian was the most prolific author (14 articles), and Deelder AM contributed 108 articles in English literature. Keyword analysis revealed that Chinese research clusters focused on “antigen”, “erythrocyte”, and “praziquantel” with the strongest burst term being “circulating antigen” and the longest-lasting burst term being “antibody”. Burst terms shifted from “circulating antigen”, “erythrocyte”, and “therapeutic efficacy evaluation” to “gold nanorods”, “combined detection”, and “schistosomiasis”. For English publications, major clusters included “chemotherapy”, “anodic antigen”, and “intensity”, with the highest burst intensity for “monoclonal antibody” and the longest burst duration for “individuals”. Burst terms transitioned from “monoclonal antibodies”, “individuals”, and “neglected tropical diseases” to “prevalence” and “Schistosoma mansoni”. Conclusion Current research on schistosome circulating antigen by Chinese scholars remains limited, for which we recommend that interdisciplinary and multi-institutional collaboration should be strengthened to advance schistosome circulating antigen studies, thereby supporting China’s goal of schistosomiasis elimination.

Key words: Schistosome, Circulating antigen, Research progress, Bibliometrics, CiteSpace