Objective To analyze the current status, hotspots, and development trends of relevant research on miRNA and spinal cord injury using bibliometric methods. Methods Literature on miRNA and spinal cord injury published between 2007 and 2023 was retrieved and downloaded from the Web of Science Core Collection database. CiteSpace software was used to perform a visualized analysis of the retrieved literature from perspectives including annual publication volume, countries, institutions, authors, co⁃cited references, and keywords. Results A total of 642 literature was included. From 2007 to 2023, the annual publication volume of miRNA and spinal cord injury relevant research exhibited an overall increasing trend. China was the country with the highest number of publications, China Medical University was the leading institution, and Feng, Shiqing was the most prolific author. Current research groups have spontaneously formed several sub⁃teams, with high⁃frequency and high⁃intensity collaboration within teams, but cross⁃team collaborative research is relatively scarce, and connections between regions and institutions are insufficient. The most cited paper with the highest citation burst strength was “Anti⁃apoptotic effect of microRNA⁃21 after contusion spinal cord injury in rats” published by the Hu JZ team in 2013. After excluding the search terms “miRNA” and “spinal cord injury,” the top five keywords by co⁃occurrence frequency were expression, functional recovery, apoptosis, inflammation, and cell. Keyword cluster analysis yielded 9 cluster labels. Keyword burst analysis revealed that early research in this field successively used mice and rats as animal models. From 2015 to 2020, the research focus gradually shifted from the NF⁃κB signaling pathway, macrophage polarization, and autophagy to long non⁃coding RNAs. Since 2021, research hotspots in this field had included extracellular vesicles, circular RNAs, and exosomes, etc. Conclusion Circular RNAs and extracellular vesicles or exosomes are current hotspots in miRNA and spinal cord injury relevant research. Future efforts should strengthen in⁃depth multidisciplinary collaboration among neuroscience, bioengineering, and clinical medicine to promote the translation of basic research findings into clinical applications, potentially bringing new breakthroughs in the diagnosis and treatment of spinal cord injury.

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