Mapping the research landscape of antibody therapy for Ebola virus disease: a bibliometric analysis.

BACKGROUND

Antibody-based therapies have become a cornerstone of Ebola virus disease (EVD) treatment and prevention, particularly following the successful clinical development of monoclonal antibody therapeutics against Zaire ebolavirus. However, despite substantial advances, the global research landscape, collaboration patterns, and evolving thematic trends of Ebola antibody therapy have not been systematically characterized. The ongoing 2026 Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak, for which no licensed vaccines or therapeutics currently exist, further underscores the importance of understanding the development trajectory of this field.

METHODS

Publications related to antibody therapy for EVD published between 1990 and 2026 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection, PubMed, and Scopus databases. Following data integration, format conversion, and deduplication, a total of 1,350 unique publications were included. Bibliometric analyses were conducted using CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and Bibliometrix, complemented by Google Trends data to evaluate public interest and outbreak-related attention.

RESULTS

The field exhibited dynamic outbreak-driven growth, with major publication surges corresponding to the 2014-2016 West African Ebola epidemic and the period surrounding 2020. Although annual publication output declined after 2020, renewed public attention emerged during the 2026 Bundibugyo outbreak. The United States dominated both publication productivity and citation impact, followed by China, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Harvard University, the University of Texas System, and Scripps Research Institute were identified as leading institutions. Keyword co-occurrence and clustering analyses revealed five major thematic domains: fundamental virology and glycoprotein research, immunity and vaccination, infection and therapeutic development, cross-viral research involving COVID-19 and HIV, and clinically oriented studies focused on neutralizing antibodies, clinical trials, and convalescent plasma. Temporal analyses demonstrated a clear evolution from basic virology toward translational and clinical applications.

CONCLUSIONS

Ebola antibody therapy research has undergone substantial expansion over the past three decades, driven largely by major outbreak events and advances in antibody engineering technologies. The current Bundibugyo outbreak highlights persistent vulnerabilities in existing countermeasure strategies and emphasizes the urgent need for broadly protective pan-ebolavirus antibody therapeutics. These findings provide a comprehensive overview of the intellectual structure, global collaborations, research hotspots, and future directions of antibody-based interventions against Ebola virus disease.