A Bibliometric Analysis of the Research about Radical S-Adenosyl-Methionine Enzymes in 1999-2020

This paper aims to clarify the current research status and hot spots, as well as to predict future research trends about radical S-adenosyl-methionine (SAM) enzymes. We conducted this study based on 649 research papers about radical SAM enzymes published in the years of 1999 to 2020 on the Web of Science. Tools like CiteSpace were employed for statistical and visual network analysis of the time of publication, national cooperative relations, core authors, and co-word networks. Our findings include: 1) the number of academic publications in this field has been growing approximately linearly, especially after 2010. Since then, a spike occurred, and the average number of annual publications has grown to somewhere around 50. Besides, the representative keywords have become more diverse, demonstrating a gradual extension of the field into multi-area research. 2) The research papers in this field fall into 44 different disciplines, but only a limited number of journals have been publishing then, among which Biochemistry is the journal in which the largest number of papers are published, and the Journal of the American Chemical Society leads in the volume of publications and Impact Factor (IF). Both journals serve as the most noteworthy ones in this field. 3) The United States is the dominant country of study origin in the field, ranking first in terms of publication volumes and centrality. Other countries with comparatively high numbers of publications, such as France, England, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, and Denmark, also indicate high centrality. Despite being a late starter, China has witnessed a rise in the number of published articles recently. 4) Various newly-born research subjects have emerged from classic research topics and expanded to more diverse research areas. In conclusion, this study could be of reference for follow-up researchers to quickly understand the current situation of radical SAM enzymology studies, screen relevant literature, and develop novel and effective research programs in the future.