The role of enteral nutrition and parenteral nutrition in the management of inflammatory bowel disease: a bibliometric analysis (1999–2025)

Objectives As a chronic disease often accompanied by malnutrition, Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) has encountered many difficulties in long-term management. Enteral nutrition (EN) and parenteral nutrition (PN) are important methods to help improve nutritional status and support the remission of the disease. However, although increasing attention has been directed toward this kind of nutritional therapy, there is still a lack of detailed and accurate bibliometric analysis in this field. Therefore, the goal of this study is to find out the research trends and hot spots, and provide reference for future academic exploration and clinical practice. Methods On November 26th, 2025, publications concerning EN, PN in IBD published from 1999 to 2025 were retrieved from two databases: Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus. In this study, R software, Microsoft Excel, VOSviewer and CiteSpace are used to measure and visually analyze the articles. Results A total of 3,245 documents were reviewed, indicating a trend of power-law growth. The USA and UK lead in global collaboration, with China being third in volume but with less cooperative intensity. The study identifies a clear progression from early “total parenteral nutrition” and “corticosteroids” to “exclusive enteral nutrition”. Citation bursts occurring in the years 2020 to 2025 included “Mediterranean diet,” “gut microbiome,” and “Crohn’s disease exclusion diet,” pointing to an emerging focus in personalized, whole-food-based therapies and microbiome modification. Conclusion The research on nutritional therapy of IBD demonstrates a rapid increase, which shows that it is becoming more and more important in helping patients control their illness. In the future, we need more high-quality research to turn these data into useful and multidisciplinary treatment guidelines.