Global Trends in the Research of Ulcerative Colitis Treatments (2021-2025): A Bibliometric Review.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease characterized by mucosal ulceration and inflammation confined to the colonic epithelium. While colonoscopy remains the diagnostic gold standard, fecal calprotectin (FC) is a validated non-invasive biomarker. Therapeutic management encompasses immunosuppressive agents including anti-TNF biologics such as infliximab, vedolizumab, and ustekinumab for severe disease manifestations, whereas mild-to-moderate UC is managed with variable dosing regimens of 5-aminosalicylates administered via oral or rectal routes. This bibliometric analysis utilized the Web of Science (WoS) database to extract publication data spanning from January 1, 2021, to June 14, 2025, with subsequent exportation of tab-delimited datasets to VOSviewer (version 1.6.20) for comprehensive bibliometric visualization and analysis. Bibliometric analysis demonstrated that the People's Republic of China exhibited the highest publication output with predominantly recent scholarly contributions. Therapeutic research predominantly focused on biologic agents, specifically infliximab (677 publications), vedolizumab (269 publications), and ustekinumab (234 publications) over the five-year study period. Temporal analysis utilizing the WoS Core Collection revealed consistent publication growth, with 2024 demonstrating peak research output. Categorical distribution analysis indicated "Gastroenterology Hepatology" as the predominant research domain.