Topics and Trends in Most Cited Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Papers

Ranked by citations 18 months after publication

Class of 2026 (Papers Published in 2024)

What topics and trends defined most-cited Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment research in the Class of 2026?

Liver disease research is dominated by MASLD, which surged to 50% frequency as legacy NAFLD terminology rapidly declined. High-impact studies increasingly pivot toward GLP-1 receptor agonists, lipid metabolism, and hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance, while traditional non-invasive tools like FibroScan show declining relative focus in favor of targeted molecular profiling.

See details ↓

Updated July 24, 2026

At a glance

Field
Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment
Cohort label
Class of 2026 (2024 publications)
Papers analyzed
20,291
Papers ranked
20
Top topics in ranked papers
MASLD, steatohepatitis, hepatocellular carcinoma, GLP-1 receptor agonists, liver fibrosis
Publication window
Jan 1, 2024 – Dec 31, 2024
Eligibility
Research articles; reviews excluded
Citation window
18 months post-publication
18m citation range
109–944
Data source
OpenAlex · Retrieved Jul 2026
License
CC BY 4.0

Rankings

20 papers ranked by 18-month citation count

#1 of 20,291
94418m citations

A Phase 3, Randomized, Controlled Trial of Resmetirom in NASH with Liver Fibrosis

Stephen A Harrison et al.New England Journal of Medicine202410.1056/nejmoa2309000

Stephen A HarrisonUniversity of Oxford, United Kingdom

resmetiromSteatohepatitisLiver fibrosisthyroid hormone receptor beta-selective agonistSteatohepatitis resolutionLiver fibrosis improvementNAFLD Activity ScoreF1B fibrosisFibrosis stage F2Fibrosis stage F3Biopsy-confirmed steatohepatitisLDL cholesterol80 mg resmetirom100 mg resmetiromliver-directed therapyMAESTRO-NASH trial
Badge
#2 of 20,291
52818m citations

Tirzepatide for Metabolic Dysfunction–Associated Steatohepatitis with Liver Fibrosis

Rohit Loomba et al.New England Journal of Medicine202410.1056/nejmoa2401943

Rohit LoombaUniversity of California at San Diego, United States

tirzepatideSteatohepatitisLiver fibrosisglucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptorGIP receptor agonistGLP-1 receptorGLP-1 receptor agonistsdual agonistFibrosis stage F2Fibrosis stage F3Steatohepatitis resolutionLiver fibrosis improvementliver biopsySubcutaneous administrationdose-finding trial52-week treatmentgastrointestinal adverse events
Badge
#3 of 20,291
35018m citations

Current status and future trends of the global burden of MASLD

Lei Miao et al.Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism202410.1016/j.tem.2024.02.007

Ming‐Hua ZhengThe Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, China

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver diseaseDisease burdenDisease trendsDisease burden forecastingPrevalencemortality trendsdisability-adjusted life years (DALYs)geographic variationRisk factors
Badge
#4 of 20,291
30618m citations

A Phase 2 Randomized Trial of Survodutide in MASH and Fibrosis

Arun J Sanyal et al.New England Journal of Medicine202410.1056/nejmoa2401755

Arun J SanyalVirginia Commonwealth University, United States

survodutidedual agonistglucagon receptorGLP-1 receptorSteatohepatitisLiver fibrosisfibrosis stage F1-F3histologic improvementHepatic steatosis reductionLiver fibrosis improvementdose-response relationshipBiopsy-confirmed steatohepatitisSubcutaneous administrationrapid-dose-escalation phasenauseadiarrheavomiting
Badge
#5 of 20,291
28818m citations

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: heterogeneous pathomechanisms and effectiveness of metabolism-based treatment

Norbert Stefan et al.The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology202410.1016/s2213-8587(24)00318-8

Norbert StefanUniversity Hospital Tübingen, Germany

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver diseaseheterogeneous pathomechanismsmetabolism-based treatmentHepatic steatosisinsulin resistanceLipid metabolismmitochondrial dysfunctionoxidative stressinflammatory pathwaysFibrosis progressionmetabolic syndrometherapeutic targetspersonalized medicine approaches
Badge
#6 of 20,291
24018m citations

Global burden of metabolic diseases, 1990–2021

Huai Zhang et al.Metabolism202410.1016/j.metabol.2024.155999

Ming‐Hua ZhengThe First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, China

metabolic diseasesDisease burdendisability-adjusted life years (DALYs)years of life lostyears lived with disabilityAge-standardized ratesDisease trendsgeographic variationsociodemographic index (SDI)Global Burden of Disease studymortality trendsprevalence trendsepidemiological transition
Badge
#7 of 20,291
22618m citations

Atlas of the plasma proteome in health and disease in 53,026 adults

Yue-Ting Deng et al.Cell202410.1016/j.cell.2024.10.045

Ying Mao, Jianfeng Feng, Wei Cheng, Jin‐Tai YuFudan University, China

plasma proteomeUK Biobankprotein-disease associationsprotein-trait associationsprevalent diseasesincident diseasessex heterogeneityAge-sex stratificationdisease discriminationarea under the curveprotein quantitative trait locuscausal proteinsdrug repurposingtherapeutic targetssafety profilesproteome-phenome atlasBiomarkersprediction modelsprecision medicinelarge-scale proteomics
Badge
#8 of 20,291
18318m citations

Natural history and progression of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease

Hannes Hagström et al.˜The œLancet. Gastroenterology & hepatology202410.1016/s2468-1253(24)00193-6

Hannes HagströmKarolinska University Hospital, Sweden

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver diseasenatural historyDisease progressionHepatic steatosisFibrosis progressionCirrhosisHepatocellular carcinomaRisk factorsinsulin resistanceobesitytype 2 diabetescardiovascular outcomesLiver-related mortalityBiomarkerslongitudinal cohort studiesprogression ratesSteatohepatitisliver biopsy
Badge
#10 of 20,291
16618m citations

Gut symbionts alleviate MASH through a secondary bile acid biosynthetic pathway

Qixing Nie et al.Cell202410.1016/j.cell.2024.03.034

Yanxing Jia, Ming‐Hua Zheng, Yanli Pang, Jie Qiao, Changtao JiangPeking University, China

Steatohepatitisgut microbiotasecondary bile acid3-succinylated cholic acidclick-chemistry-based enrichmentMetabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver diseaseBacteroides uniformisβ-lactamaseactivity-based protein purificationAkkermansia muciniphilalumen-restricted metabolitegut-liver axismicrobiota-modified bile acids
Badge
#11 of 20,291
16318m citations

Liver cancer in 2021: Global Burden of Disease study

En Ying Tan et al.Journal of Hepatology202410.1016/j.jhep.2024.10.031

Daniel Q. HuangNational University Health System, Singapore

Hepatocellular carcinomaGlobal Burden of Disease studyGBD 2021Disease burdenIncidenceMortalitydisability-adjusted life years (DALYs)DALYAge-standardized ratesDisease trendsgeographic variationRisk factorsHepatitis BHepatitis CAlcohol consumptionNon-alcoholic fatty liver diseaseaflatoxin exposure
Badge
#12 of 20,291
16218m citations

An unbiased ranking of murine dietary models based on their proximity to human metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD)

Michele Vacca, Ioannis Kamzolas, Lea Mørch Harder et al.Nature Metabolism202410.1038/s42255-024-01043-6

Michèle Vacca, Dina Tiniakos, Antonio Vidal-Puig, Michèle Vacca, Evangelia PetsalakiUniversity of Cambridge, United Kingdom

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver diseaseNon-alcoholic fatty liver diseaseSteatohepatitisMASH-fibrosismurine dietary modelshuman proximity scoreWestern diethigh cholesterol contentcholine-deficient modelsliver histologytranscriptome benchmarkingmetabolic phenotypeHepatocellular carcinomaCirrhosisF2+ fibrosisgenetic manipulationpreclinical rodent modelstranslational relevance
Badge
#13 of 20,291
15618m citations

Triple hormone receptor agonist retatrutide for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: a randomized phase 2a trial

Arun J Sanyal et al.Nature Medicine202410.1038/s41591-024-03018-2

Arun J. SanyalVirginia Commonwealth University, United States

retatrutidetriple hormone receptor agonistglucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptorGLP-1 receptorglucagon receptorMetabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver diseaseHepatic steatosis reductionphase 2a trialSubcutaneous administrationdose-response relationshipbody weight reductionabdominal fatinsulin sensitivityLipid metabolismMRI-PDFF
Badge
#14 of 20,291
15118m citations

The Global Epidemiology of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

Zobair M Younossi et al.Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology202410.1016/j.cgh.2024.03.006

Zobair M YounossiInova Health System, United States

Non-alcoholic fatty liver diseaseSteatohepatitistype 2 diabetesglobal epidemiologyPrevalenceMetabolic comorbiditiesNAFLD-T2D associationgeographic variationsystematic reviewmeta-analysis
Badge
#15 of 20,291
15118m citations

Genome-wide characterization of circulating metabolic biomarkers

Minna K Karjalainen, Savita Karthikeyan et al.Nature202410.1038/s41586-024-07148-y

Minna K. KarjalainenUniversity of Oulu, Finland

nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopyGWAScirculating metabolic traitslipoprotein metabolismlipid-associated variantsgenetic pleiotropyMendelian randomizationintrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancyacetonehypertensioncausal gene assignmenthigh-throughput metabolomicslipid locimetabolomic profilingindependent locisystemic metabolismgenetic determinantsmolecular phenotyping
Badge
#16 of 20,291
13018m citations

Data-driven cluster analysis identifies distinct types of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease

Violeta Raverdy, Federica Tavaglione, Estelle Chatelain, Guillaume Lassailly et al.Nature Medicine202410.1038/s41591-024-03283-1

Stefano Romeo, François PattouUniversity of Lille, France

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver diseasepartitioning around medoids clusteringphenotypic heterogeneitySteatohepatitisliver-specific clusterCardiometabolic diseaseDisease progressioncardiovascular disease risktype 2 diabetes incidencedysglycemiaTriglyceride metabolismliver transcriptomicsmetabolomic profilingUK Biobankliver biopsygenetic linkageclinical trajectoriesobesity cohortprecision medicine
Badge
#17 of 20,291
11818m citations

The underappreciated diversity of bile acid modifications

Ipsita Mohanty et al.Cell202410.1016/j.cell.2024.02.019

Pieter C. DorresteinUniversity of California, San Diego, United States

bile acid modificationstandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS)MS/MS spectral librarybile-acid-selective ion patternspublic untargeted metabolomics data miningpolyamine bile amidatescarnivore bile acid metabolismmicrobial bile acid metabolismMediterranean dietWestern dietdiet-induced metabolite changessteroidal lipidshost-microbiome co-metabolismmetabolite discovery from public spectral repositoriesmodification-centric metabolite annotationbile acid diversity
Badge
#18 of 20,291
11518m citations

Low-to-moderate alcohol consumption is associated with increased fibrosis in individuals with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease

David Marti-Aguado et al.Journal of Hepatology202410.1016/j.jhep.2024.06.036

Ramón Bataller, Javier CrespoClinic University Hospital, Spain

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver diseaseAlcohol consumptionlow-to-moderate alcohol intakeLiver fibrosisFibrosis progressionsteatotic liver diseaseMetabolic dysregulationalcohol-related liver injurydose-response relationshipfibrosis stagingHepatic steatosisRisk factors
Badge
#19 of 20,291
11418m citations

Semaglutide 2.4 mg in Participants With Metabolic Dysfunction‐Associated Steatohepatitis: Baseline Characteristics and Design of the Phase 3 <scp>ESSENCE</scp> Trial

Philip N Newsome et al.Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics202410.1111/apt.18331

Philip N. NewsomeKing's College London, United Kingdom

SemaglutideGLP-1 receptor agonistsSteatohepatitisESSENCE trialFibrosis stage F2Fibrosis stage F3liver histologySteatohepatitis resolutionLiver fibrosis improvementtype 2 diabetesMetabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver diseaseMASLD cardiometabolic criteriaNon-invasive diagnostic methodsSubcutaneous administrationphase 3 trialBiopsy-confirmed steatohepatitis
Badge
#20 of 20,291
10918m citations

Vibration-Controlled Transient Elastography Scores to Predict Liver-Related Events in Steatotic Liver Disease

Huapeng Lin et al.JAMA202410.1001/jama.2024.1447

Seung Up Kim, Vincent Wai‐Sun WongThe Chinese University of Hong Kong, China

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver diseasetransient elastographyFibroScanAgile 3+ scoreAgile 4 scoreLiver-related outcomesHepatocellular carcinomaDecompensated cirrhosisLiver fibrosisCirrhosiscontrolled attenuation parameterNon-invasive diagnostic methodstime-dependent receiver-operating characteristic curveserial monitoringdynamic score changesSteatohepatitisliver biopsy alternativesBiomarkers
Badge

Dominant research themes and year-over-year shifts in Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment

What Topics Define the Class of 2026?

The Class of 2026 in liver disease research is anchored by a landmark shift toward metabolic liver disorders, led by Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD). MASLD appears in 50% of the top-ranked cohort (25 papers), reflecting international consensus adoption of revised terminology over legacy non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Secondary metabolic markers including steatohepatitis (28%) and hepatic steatosis (22%) demonstrate strong co-occurrence, illustrating a concentrated focus on non-invasive diagnosis and disease staging. Beyond metabolic dysfunction, research heavily emphasizes end-stage liver complications and oncological progression. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is featured in 20% of high-impact studies, driven by innovations in early surveillance and combination immunotherapies. Meanwhile, liver fibrosis (20%) and cirrhosis (10%) represent central clinical endpoints, with growing attention to histological staging (F2 and F3 stages). Mechanistically, the cohort exhibits high density around metabolic regulators and therapeutic pathways. Type 2 diabetes (12%), de novo lipogenesis (10%), and GLP-1 receptor agonists (8%) reflect an expanding pharmacological paradigm linking metabolic health to hepatic outcomes. Together, these thematic clusters highlight a research trajectory focused on precision diagnosis, metabolic targeted therapies, and early risk stratification.

Leading research themes
Leading research themes

How Did Topics Shift from the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2026?

The shift between the Class of 2025 and Class of 2026 reflects an active evolution in hepatology nomenclature, therapeutic targets, and diagnostic modalities. Most prominently, Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD) nearly doubled in normalized frequency (from 0.26 to 0.50, a 1.92-fold increase). Conversely, legacy Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) experienced a steep decline from 0.52 to 0.24 (a 54% reduction), marking rapid community-wide adoption of updated diagnostic frameworks. Pharmacological and mechanistic themes represent the fastest-rising research frontiers. Incretin-based therapeutics surged, led by GLP-1 receptor agonists (rising from 0.04 to 0.08) and novel GLP-1 receptor studies. Metabolic pathways such as lipid metabolism (5-fold increase to 0.10), de novo lipogenesis (2.5-fold increase), and subcutaneous drug delivery gained significant traction. Additionally, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) doubled its relative presence from 0.10 to 0.20, pointing to intensified focus on liver cancer in metabolic cohorts. In contrast, broad descriptive terms and conventional diagnostic tools showed relative declines. FibroScan usage diminished in mention frequency (0.14 to 0.04), as studies pivoted toward novel serum biomarkers and multi-omic profiling. Broad conditions like alcohol-related liver disease and general liver fibrosis also yielded relative frequency to specific metabolic and histological sub-phenotypes.

How topics shifted year over year
How topics shifted year over year
Methodology

PRI identifies high-impact research using a transparent, topic-agnostic framework applied consistently across scientific domains. Bibliographic records are drawn from OpenAlex, including publication dates, citation relationships, and document types.

This ranking covers the Class of 2026 cohort: journal articles published in 2024. Reviews and other non-article document types are excluded to ensure comparability.

Research impact is quantified with an 18-month post-publication citation window—the number of citing works published within 18 months of each paper's publication date. This metric captures early impact while controlling for publication age.

An LLM-based relevance classifier then reviews each candidate's title and abstract to confirm substantive alignment with the target domain. Only papers classified as relevant appear in the final ranking.

Zheng Su, Tinsley Li, Thematic Shifts in Early-High-Impact Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Research: A Bibliometric and Semantic Analysis. bioRxiv 2026.07.04.736459; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.04.736459

Full methodologyGitHubbioRxiv preprint

Cite this ranking

Pepkio Research Index (PRI). Topics and Trends in Most Cited Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Papers, Class of 2026. https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/liver-disease-diagnosis-and-treatment/2026. Accessed 2026-07-24.

Methodology
Zheng Su, Tinsley Li, Thematic Shifts in Early-High-Impact Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Research: A Bibliometric and Semantic Analysis. bioRxiv 2026.07.04.736459; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.04.736459