Global research trends in the tumor microenvironment of glioma: insights from bibliometric analysis

Abstract Objective This study employs visual mapping and bibliometric analysis to synthesize valuable information from research on the glioma tumor microenvironment (TME) over the past decade, aiming to identify research hotspots and trends in this field. Methods We retrieved all relevant literature on the glioma TME from the Web of Science Core Collection database (2016–2025). Research hotspots and trends in this field were then analyzed using VOSviewer and CiteSpace software. Results A total of 2822 English-language publications were retrieved. Publications from the past three years are projected to number approximately 1406, accounting for 49.82% of the total. China contributed the highest number of publications ( n = 1403), while the United States led in terms of total citation count ( n = 40,657). Frontiers in Immunology published the most articles on on the TME of glioma( n = 121). Neuro-Oncology had the highest total number of citations ( n = 3064), while Nature Communications exhibited the highest average citation count per article ( n = 57.22). Four major clusters—encompassing keywords such as “extracellular matrix,” “glioma stem cells,” “heterogeneity,” “immune cells,” “tumor immune microenvironment,” “drug delivery,” and “myeloid cells”—represent current research hotspots in this field. Keywords such as “atlas,” “resource,” and “evolution” have emerged recently and indicate growing research interest in these directions. Conclusion We identified four key areas of focus in the study of the TME in glioma: its major components and functions, immunotherapy, combination therapy, and the role of myeloid cells. Furthermore, our findings suggest that multi-omics atlas analysis of the TME in glioma is likely to emerge as a major future research direction.