To systematically analyze the publication characteristics, research hotspots, and international collaboration patterns in the field of organ donation and transplantation worldwide from 2016 to 2025 based on the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database, and to provide decision-making references for discipline development and internationalization.

Literature was retrieved from the WoSCC database using a topic-search strategy. The R package Bibliometrix and Biblioshiny platform were used to perform bibliometric and visualization analyses of annual publication trends, core source journals, author and country collaboration networks, keyword co-occurrence, and the topological relationships of document co-citation.

A total of 4 771 articles related to organ donation and transplantation from 2016 to 2025 were included from the WoSCC database, comprising 4 223 articles and 548 reviews. Over the past decade, the annual publication volume showed an overall fluctuating upward trend, with a compound annual growth rate of 2.76%, reaching its peak in 2021 (565 articles). The proportion of international co-authored articles was 18.13%, and the average number of co-authors per article was 8.56. High-frequency keyword analysis showed that kidney transplantation, liver transplantation, living donor, donation after cardiac death, and clinical practice were the core themes in this field. Keyword co-occurrence analysis indicated that " transplantation" had the highest betweenness centrality value (32.369), serving as a significant global hub. Technical terms such as " machine perfusion" and " preservation" had relatively low betweenness centrality values. Combined with the analysis of highly cited literature, organ preservation and machine perfusion technologies have become key emerging frontiers. Document co-citation analysis showed that the knowledge base of the field is mainly built upon reports from international registries, clinical guidelines, and conventional donor classification criteria. The country collaboration network showed that the United States occupied an absolutely central position, with a betweenness centrality value of 9.386 and a weight of 0.117. European countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany demonstrated strong intermediary effects in the collaboration network. China showed a relatively high volume of research output, but its betweenness centrality value in the collaboration network was low (0.099).

Global research on organ donation and transplantation is undergoing a multidimensional transition from a primary focus on surgical clinical outcome evaluation toward precision management of donor quality, standardization of donation after cardiac death criteria and protocols, optimization of organ perfusion technologies, and the development of ethical and sociological governance systems. China has established a certain research foundation in this field. However, there remains considerable room for improvement in its hub position within the international collaboration network.