Advancement in cell and gene therapy research: A 35-year bibliometric perspective

BACKGROUND: Cell and gene therapies (CGT) have been increasingly translated into clinical practice over the past three decades; however, their development has been uneven across modalities and regions. METHODS: Through a bibliometric analysis indexed in PubMed from 1989 to 2023, supplemented by citation and affiliation data from OpenAlex, we examined modality-specific progression under different regional and collaborative configurations and how transitions from basic to clinical research have emerged. RESULTS: Hematopoietic stem cell therapies have shown sustained growth in both clinical and high-impact publications, reflecting a mature field that remains scientifically relevant. In contrast, mesenchymal stem cell therapies experienced a rise in high-impact papers in the mid-2000s, but clinical publications stagnated, indicating a gap between academic interest and clinical applications. In gene therapy, the number of in vivo approaches increased in the 1990s. However, this was followed by a plateau in high-impact publications and a decline in clinical output, whereas ex vivo strategies have sharply increased since the mid-2010s, marking a transition toward tangible clinical translation. To further evaluate the global research landscape, we analyzed research activity and co-authorship patterns across countries and institutions in CGT. Our findings reveal distinct patterns of international collaboration. The United States and, more recently, China accounted for a large and growing share of CGT publications and high-impact papers, whereas Europe maintained steady contributions, and Japan's presence stagnated. Higher-impact output is generally associated with broader cross-border co-authorship, especially collaborations linking the United States and Europe, whereas collaborations involving China and Japan remain comparatively narrow. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide a data-driven foundation for guiding research policies and strategic cooperation in this evolving field.