Trends in Aflatoxin M Global Research: A Bibliometric Analysis Study.

Background: Fungal metabolites known as aflatoxin M (AFM) are linked to contaminated milk and milk products. Consuming food contaminated with AFM poses major health risks and may even be fatal.

Methods: The retrieved publications were categorized in this bibliometric study using the Web of Science (WoS) database Jan 1, 1970 to Nov 30, 2022 based on a variety of factors, including the time of publication of articles, citation totals, languages, research areas, countries, affiliations, funding agencies, journals, and keywords analysis to identify any hot and developing subjects. Additionally, VOSviewer software version 1.6.18 provided the bibliometric analysis of the global collaboration network and hot research themes.

Results: Overall, 679 published documents were detected. Food Control was the top-line journal in publications on AFM research with 540 published articles, while the USA was the best productive country in AFM publications as well as the major country with the maximum co-authorship collaboration. This study ensures quantitative and qualitative analyses of the top 25 journals, most cited published articles, most relevant authors and title word occurrences in published documents on AFM publications. Over the past two decades, there has been an enormous rise for research conducted on global AFM.

Conclusion: The assessment of the historical state and development trend in AFM scientific research can serve as a roadmap for future research and eventually, serve as a foundation for bettering management practices for territorial decisions, healthcare, and dairy industries.