Global disparities in dengue, climate, and extreme weather research: a bibliometric analysis of alignment with disease burden and climate-driven vector suitability

Background Dengue is a climate-sensitive vector-borne disease that imposes a substantial public health burden in tropical and subtropical regions. Temperature, rainfall, and extreme weather can affect mosquito ecology, human exposure, and the environmental suitability for transmission. This study characterized the global research landscape of dengue and extreme weather and examined whether country-level research output corresponded to dengue burden and climate-driven vector suitability. Methods The Web of Science Core Collection was searched on 22 May 2026. Publication trends, collaboration networks, journals, authors, co-cited references, citation bursts, keyword patterns, and thematic evolution were examined using CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and the bibliometrix R package. Country-level publication output was linked to estimates from the Global Burden of Disease 2023 dataset, the socio-demographic index for 2021, and mean index– p values for 1990–2022. Associations between publication output and dengue burden were assessed using Spearman’s rank correlation among countries classified as dengue-endemic. Results A total of 290 publications from 2008 to 2026 met the eligibility criteria. Annual publication output increased overall and remained comparatively high after 2020. The United States contributed the largest number of publications, followed by China, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Brazil. The literature connected tropical medicine and infectious disease epidemiology with environmental health, climate science, vector ecology, modeling, and public health. Major themes included climate change, temperature, rainfall, the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, extreme weather, Aedes vectors, transmission modeling, risk prediction, and early warning. Among 80 countries classified as dengue-endemic, publication output was positively correlated with the age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR) in 2023 (Spearman’s ρ = 0.32, P = 0.004, n = 80) and the disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) rate in 2023 (ρ = 0.36, P < 0.001, n = 80). In contrast, its association with the estimated annual percentage change (EAPC) in ASIR from 1990 to 2023 was not statistically significant (ρ = 0.20, P = 0.070, n = 80). Several dengue-endemic countries with comparatively high disease burden or long-term climate-driven vector suitability had no eligible Web of Science-indexed publications in the present dataset. Conclusions Research on dengue and extreme weather has expanded, and publication output showed modest positive associations with contemporary dengue burden among dengue-endemic countries. However, research output was not significantly associated with the long-term trend in dengue incidence, and substantial geographic disparities remained. The separate assessment of burden, research output, and climate-driven vector suitability identified geographic areas that may warrant closer consideration when research capacity, surveillance support, and equitable international partnerships are developed.