Two decades of immunogenic cell death research: a bibliometric analysis of the 100 most cited publications.

BACKGROUND: Immunogenic cell death (ICD) represents a pivotal concept linking tumor cell demise with the activation of adaptive antitumor immunity. Since the concept was formalized around 2005, ICD has substantially reshaped research in tumor immunology and cancer therapy. However, bibliometric mapping and structured interpretation of the influential literature that has shaped this field remain limited. METHODS: This bibliometric analysis, supplemented by structured narrative interpretation, used the Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus to identify the 100 most-cited ICD-related publications. Publication characteristics, citation patterns, journals, authors, institutions, countries/regions, and keywords were extracted and standardized. VOSviewer and CiteSpace were employed to construct collaboration networks, perform keyword co-occurrence and clustering analyses, and identify research hotspots and thematic evolution over time. RESULTS: The top 100 most-cited ICD publications were published between 2005 and 2023. Within this highly cited publication set, more included papers were published after 2011, and the largest number of top-cited publications appeared in 2019. Highly cited studies were dominated by contributions from the United States and Western Europe, particularly France, with strong international collaboration networks. A small core of authors and institutions accounted for a substantial proportion of influential output. Keyword and burst analyses revealed a clear evolution from early work defining ICD hallmarks and antigen presentation mechanisms toward later integration with immunotherapy, nanomedicine, phototherapy, and engineered delivery platforms. CONCLUSION: Over the past two decades, ICD research has evolved from conceptual and mechanistic foundations toward a multidisciplinary framework with increasing relevance to tumor immunology, immunotherapy, and combination cancer therapy. Future progress will depend on function-based validation of immunogenicity, microenvironment-aware biomarkers, and rational therapeutic combinations to enhance clinical translatability.