Abstract

Once a key broad-spectrum antibiotic, chloramphenicol’s clinical use declined due to toxicity and resistance but remains important in veterinary, environmental, and food safety research. This study aimed to present a bibliometric analysis of global chloramphenicol research (1995–2025), examining publication trends, key contributors, collaborations, and thematic evolution. A bibliometric analysis was conducted using the Scopus database. The data was analyzed using Bibliometrix (R package) and VOSviewer for visualization. Descriptive statistics, citation analysis, co-authorship networks and thematic maps were created to evaluate the structure and development of the field. A total of 2,362 documents were retrieved from 910 sources between 1995 and 2025. The number of articles showed steady annual increase of 3.02%. Research output was dominated by China (one third of publications), the USA and India. A thematic analysis demonstrated the shift from early pharmacology and resistance, to focuses of residue detection, environmental degradation and nanomaterial-based sensors. Keywords co-occurrence analysis identified four predominant thematic clusters, including pharmacology and resistance mechanisms, analytical detection technologies, environmental and food safety applications as well as comparative antibiotics and cross-resistance studies. The study of chloramphenicol during the past three decades has developed into multidisciplinary research, involving microbiology, environmental science and analytical chemistry. Its ongoing applications in detection and remediation further reveal its significance in the field of global food safety and environmental monitoring.