Bibliometric Mapping and Research Progress of TOF-SIMS Technology in Biological and Biomedical Research

With its label-free and high-resolution molecular imaging capabilities, Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) has been increasingly applied in biological and biomedical research. However, the research landscape and developmental trajectories of this field have not yet been systematically examined from a bibliometric perspective. To fill this gap, a total of 1440 publications from the Web of Science Core Collection (1996–2025) were analyzed using VOSviewer and CiteSpace, examining countries and regions, temporal trends, authors, institutions, journals, co-cited references, and keywords. The results demonstrate sustained growth in both publication output and research activity. The United States was found to be the most influential country in this field, leading in both publication volume and international collaboration. Author productivity varied considerably: 86.61% of authors published three or fewer papers, while 107 authors published four or more. In terms of research direction evolution, the field has transitioned from early optimization of surface analysis techniques toward diverse biological application scenarios, including lipid imaging, single-cell analysis, and histopathology. Recent studies have explored biomedical applications of TOF-SIMS and its integration with complementary analytical and computational methods. This study provides the first systematic bibliometric assessment of TOF-SIMS applications in biological and biomedical research, offering an integrated perspective on the intellectual structure, thematic evolution, and emerging research directions of the field.