Global Bibliometric and Visualized Analysis of Research on Lactoferrin from 1978 to 2024

Scope Lactoferrin (LF) is an iron‐bound protein with a molecular weight of about 80 kDa. LF has many biological functions such as antibacterial, antiviral, immunomodulatory, and anticancer. The purpose of this study is to explore the research trend of LF through bibliometric analysis. Methods and results The search is conducted in the Web of Science Core Collection database, and then the publications information of LF related literature is exported. Based on CiteSpace and VOSviewer software, countries, institutions, authors, journals, keywords, and so on are analyzed. Since 1987, a total of 9382 literature have been included, and the number of papers related to LF has increased year by year. These publications come mainly from 124 countries and 725 institutions. Of the 1256 authors analyzed, Valenti Piera is the one with the most publications. The burst strength of gut microbiota, antioxidant, nanoparticles, and in vitro digestion are 21.3, 15.63, 23.03, and 13.51, respectively. They represent the frontier of research in this field and are developing rapidly. Conclusion This study shows that LF has important research value. The study of LF nanoparticles and the effects of LF on the gut microbiota are an emerging field that helps to explore new research directions.