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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Metabolites

Bibliometric Mapping and Research Progress of TOF-SIMS Technology in Biological and Biomedical Research

  • Ziqing Zhu1
  • Nairen Liu2
  • Minghui Xin3
  • Yuehe Li4
  • Jianing Hu1
  • Xu Liu4
  • Fan Xu5
  • Tinglu Song4
5 affiliations
  1. 1School of Automation, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
  2. 2School of Law, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
  3. 3School of Insurance, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China
  4. 4Experimental Center of Advanced Materials, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
  5. 5Shenzhen Institute for Advanced Study, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Shenzhen 518110, China
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Abstract

With its label-free and high-resolution molecular imaging capabilities, Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) has been increasingly applied in biological and biomedical research. However, the research landscape and developmental trajectories of this field have not yet been systematically examined from a bibliometric perspective. To fill this gap, a total of 1440 publications from the Web of Science Core Collection (1996–2025) were analyzed using VOSviewer and CiteSpace, examining countries and regions, temporal trends, authors, institutions, journals, co-cited references, and keywords. The results demonstrate sustained growth in both publication output and research activity. The United States was found to be the most influential country in this field, leading in both publication volume and international collaboration. Author productivity varied considerably: 86.61% of authors published three or fewer papers, while 107 authors published four or more. In terms of research direction evolution, the field has transitioned from early optimization of surface analysis techniques toward diverse biological application scenarios, including lipid imaging, single-cell analysis, and histopathology. Recent studies have explored biomedical applications of TOF-SIMS and its integration with complementary analytical and computational methods. This study provides the first systematic bibliometric assessment of TOF-SIMS applications in biological and biomedical research, offering an integrated perspective on the intellectual structure, thematic evolution, and emerging research directions of the field.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{zhu2026bibliometric,
  title = {{Bibliometric Mapping and Research Progress of TOF-SIMS Technology in Biological and Biomedical Research}},
  author = {Ziqing Zhu and Nairen Liu and Minghui Xin and Yuehe Li and Jianing Hu and Xu Liu and Fan Xu and Tinglu Song},
  journal = {Metabolites},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3390/metabo16110806},
  url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1989/16/11/806},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Bibliometric Mapping and Research Progress of TOF-SIMS Technology in Biological and Biomedical Research
AU  - Ziqing Zhu
AU  - Nairen Liu
AU  - Minghui Xin
AU  - Yuehe Li
AU  - Jianing Hu
AU  - Xu Liu
AU  - Fan Xu
AU  - Tinglu Song
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/22
JO  - Metabolites
DO  - 10.3390/metabo16110806
UR  - https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1989/16/11/806
AB  - With its label-free and high-resolution molecular imaging capabilities, Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) has been increasingly applied in biological and biomedical research. However, the research landscape and developmental trajectories of this field have not yet been systematically examined from a bibliometric perspective. To fill this gap, a total of 1440 publications from the Web of Science Core Collection (1996–2025) were analyzed using VOSviewer and CiteSpace, examining countries and regions, temporal trends, authors, institutions, journals, co-cited references, and keywords. The results demonstrate sustained growth in both publication output and research activity. The United States was found to be the most influential country in this field, leading in both publication volume and international collaboration. Author productivity varied considerably: 86.61% of authors published three or fewer papers, while 107 authors published four or more. In terms of research direction evolution, the field has transitioned from early optimization of surface analysis techniques toward diverse biological application scenarios, including lipid imaging, single-cell analysis, and histopathology. Recent studies have explored biomedical applications of TOF-SIMS and its integration with complementary analytical and computational methods. This study provides the first systematic bibliometric assessment of TOF-SIMS applications in biological and biomedical research, offering an integrated perspective on the intellectual structure, thematic evolution, and emerging research directions of the field.
SN  - 2218-1989
ER  -