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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Research trends in the clinical diagnostic applications of FAPI PET/CT: A bibliometric analysis from 2020 to 2025

Jingxia Wang1 ,  Xiaofang Ma1 ,  Zhen Cao2 ,  Yong Yang1,3*
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1 Department of Nuclear Medicine, People’s Hospital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, Ningxia, China
2 Siemens Healthineers Ltd., Shanghai, China
3 Department of Radiology, The First Hospital of Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
EJMO, 025450468 https://doi.org/10.36922/EJMO025450468
Received: 3 November 2025 | Revised: 23 January 2026 | Accepted: 26 February 2026 | Published online: 27 April 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Introduction: The specificity of fibroblast activation protein (FAP) in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) has attracted significant attention in the nuclear medicine community. FAP is highly expressed in malignant tumor cells, while it is rarely expressed in healthy tissues under physiological conditions. Radionuclide-labeled fibroblast activation protein inhibitors (FAPIs) have shown significant progress as molecular probes for positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/ CT) imaging.

Objective: The study aims to provide a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of scientific publications in this field.

Methods: A systematic search was conducted in the Web of Science Core Collection database to identify publications related to FAPI imaging and its clinical applications (last updated July 21, 2025). Visualization software, including VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and RStudio, was used to analyze contributions by countries/regions, institutions, journals, authors, citation patterns, and keyword distributions.

Results: A total of 194 papers were published in this field, with the annual number of publications showing a clear upward trend. China had the most publications (n = 96, 36.23% of 265 country occurrences), followed by Germany (n = 44, 16.60%), Turkey (n = 19, 7.17%), and the United States of America (n = 19, 7.17%) The most-cited article was published in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine (impact factor = 9.1). The German Cancer Research Center was the most prolific institution by publication count. Although Fujian Medical University published fewer articles (n = 10), it achieved the highest total citation count (454), reflecting its high-impact comparative studies. Fendler WP was the most prolific author, with 14 papers published since 2020, the highest H-index (n = 8), and the highest G-index (n = 14). “Fibroblast activation protein,” “PET/CT,” “68Ga-FAPI-04,” and “18F-FDG PET/CT” were the most frequently used keywords in this field.

Conclusion: Over the past five years, research on radiolabeled FAPI as a molecular probe for PET/CT imaging in disease diagnosis and treatment has grown substantially. This bibliometric analysis systematically reveals global trends, collaborative networks, and research hotspots in FAPI PET/CT research from 2020 to 2025, providing valuable data to support further exploration in nuclear medicine.

Graphical abstract
Keywords
FAPI PET/CT
Bibliometric analysis
Positron emission tomography imaging
Fibroblast activation protein inhibitor
Funding
This study was funded by Ningxia Natural Science Foundation (2024AAC03518) and Ningxia Natural Science Foundation (2025AAC030332).
Conflict of interest
Zhen Cao is an employee of Siemens Healthineers Ltd. The company had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or manuscript preparation, and did not influence clinical decision-making or results interpretation. The remaining authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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Eurasian Journal of Medicine and Oncology, Electronic ISSN: 2587-196X Print ISSN: 2587-2400, Published by AccScience Publishing
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