To systematically analyze the linear plasmid-related studies published from 1994 to 2023 by using bibliometric methods, and to sort out the research pattern, core forces and development context of this field.

A total of 989 linear plasmid-related literatures indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection were selected as research objects. Bibliometric analysis was carried out from the dimensions of country, institution, journal, author and keyword by using CiteSpace (a literature analysis software) and GraphPad Prism (a graphing software).

Linear plasmids were taken as the core research object. The United States and Germany together contributed 53% of the relevant literature, with the USA National Institutes of Health (NIH) ranking first in the number of publications (50 papers). Journal of Bacteriology has published 80 papers on this topic, and German scholar Meinhardt Friedhelm (16 papers) is the core author in this field. Among them,Borrelia burgdorferi is the classic research microorganism, and the research hotspots include comparative genomics, replication and horizontal transfer mechanisms, and gene regulation. In addition, the dissemination of antibacterial drug resistance genes mediated by linear plasmids and the evolution of resistant plasmids have also attracted great attention.

Over the past 30 years, research on linear plasmids has evolved from sequence analysis to functional mechanism exploration, and has continuously integrated new technologies. However, the current research still has limitations such as insufficient breadth and depth. In the future, international cooperation should be strengthened to conduct in-depth research on linear plasmids, which can provide theoretical support for the formulation of drug resistance prevention and control strategies and the development of new antibacterial drugs.