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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
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The role of Wnt signalling in osteoporosis: A bibliometric analysis

Yanran Huang1# ,  Runhan Zhao1# ,  Zhule Wang1,2# ,  Jingtao Xu1 ,  Yukun Jia1 ,  Xiao Qu1 ,  Hao Liang1 ,  Dagang Tang1* ,  Ningdao Li1* ,  Jun Zhang1*
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1 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing Municipal Health Commission Key Laboratory of Musculoskeletal Regeneration and Translational Medicine, Orthopaedic Research Laboratory of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
2 Dentistry- Regenerative Biomaterials, Radboudumc, EX Nijmegen, The Netherlands
BMT 2025 , 6(3), 345–358; https://doi.org/10.12336/bmt.24.00036
Submitted: 23 June 2024 | Revised: 27 July 2024 | Accepted: 18 October 2024 | Published: 22 September 2025
Copyright © 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–ShareAlike 4.0 License.
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Abstract

Osteoporosis has long been a key area of medical research, as the Wnt signalling pathway is essential for bone formation and maintaining bone balance. The purpose of this study was to perform a bibliometric analysis of the literature on osteoporosis and Wnt signalling to identify research trends, hot topics, and emerging areas of interest in this field. A visual analysis of the literature on osteoporosis and Wnt signalling offers a clearer perspective on the current research landscape, highlighting key topics and emerging trends in this area. The present study analysed publications related to osteoporosis and Wnt signalling from January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2021, using data from the Web of Science Core Collection. A total of 1553 publications were examined via tools, such as Microsoft Excel, CiteSpace, Vosviewer, and the Bibliometrics online analysis platform. The findings indicated that China has the highest number of publications in this area, with 489 articles. Warman Mathew’s work has the most citations, totalling 1031 articles, and the journal Bone has published the most articles, with 89 publications. Current research in this field has focused primarily on osteogenesis, metabolism, fractures, and osteoblasts. The present study highlights the significant role of Wnt signalling in bone homeostasis and disease, suggesting that future research will explore novel metabolic therapies for osteoporosis by targeting the Wnt signalling pathway with drugs.

Keywords
Bibliometrics
Bone homeostasis
Osteoporosis
Wnt signalling pathway
Funding
This study was supported by the China Posdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2024MD754029) and Chongqing Natural Science Foundation Project (No. CSTB2024NSCQ-MSX1218).
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Conflict of interest
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
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