Wang, Xingxin, Li, Xuhao, Dong, Tiantian et al. · Medicine · 2023 · DOI
This study analyzed the 100 most-cited scientific papers on ME/CFS to understand what researchers have been focusing on and what directions the field is moving toward. Researchers found that ME/CFS research is a global effort involving hundreds of institutions across many countries, with studies increasingly looking at cognitive behavioral therapy, how to diagnose ME/CFS better, and the biological basis of the condition. The analysis suggests future research will likely focus on finding biological markers, understanding immune system changes, and identifying genetic risk factors.
This comprehensive landscape analysis provides patients and researchers with a clear picture of where ME/CFS research has concentrated and where it is heading, helping guide future investigations and resource allocation. By identifying emerging research trends in biomarkers, immunology, genetic screening, and epidemiology, it offers hope that future studies may lead to improved diagnostic tools and biological understanding of the disease.
This study is a bibliometric analysis (a 'map' of existing literature) and does not itself prove or test any treatment, biological mechanism, or diagnostic criterion. It does not evaluate the quality or validity of the papers it analyzed, nor does it establish which research findings are clinically significant or reproducible. The prominence of cognitive behavioral therapy in the top-cited papers does not necessarily indicate it is an effective treatment for all ME/CFS patients.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Wang, Xingxin, Li, Xuhao, Dong, Tiantian, Yu, Wenyan, Jia, Zhixia, & Chen, Jun (2023). Frontiers in chronic fatigue syndrome research: An analysis of the top 100 most influential articles in the field.. Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000035754
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-wang-2023-frontiers-chronic,
author = {Wang, Xingxin and Li, Xuhao and Dong, Tiantian and Yu, Wenyan and Jia, Zhixia and Chen, Jun},
title = {Frontiers in chronic fatigue syndrome research: An analysis of the top 100 most influential articles in the field.},
journal = {Medicine},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.1097/MD.0000000000035754},
note = {PubMed: 37986358},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/wang-2023-frontiers-chronic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/wang-2023-frontiers-chronic
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