Trends analysis of cancer topic of Cochrane systematic reviews: a bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Purpose: To comprehensively analyze the scientific outputs of cancer topic of Cochrane systematic reviews (Cancer-CSR). Patients and methods: Cochrane Database of Systematic Review and Web of Science Core Collection were retrieved limited from Jan. 1, 2009 to Dec. 12, 2018. CiteSpace IV and Excel 2018 were applied to analyze and visualize the literature information. Results: Ultimately, 607 Cancer-CSR were retrieved, 32 countries, 179 institutions and 260 authors involved. The number of publications in Cancer-CSR has been increasing over the past decades (25(2009)-77(2018)). UK, USA, Canada, Australia, and Germany worked closely with other countries, especially UK (n=361) has taken the lead in this field. The top 10 contributive institutions, which were almost came from developed countries, collaborated closely with other institutions. Cochrane Database Syst Rev, C Hdb Sys and J Clin Oncol were the top three journal/book with the highest co-citation. The top three co-cited references were the two different version of Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews and the guidelines of Review Manager. The biggest cluster of keywords “cytoreductive surgery (CRS)” and the latest clusters “visual inspection” and “non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug” were the most promising hotspots. Conclusions: Cancer-CSR has been increasing. Most of the reviews were came from the developed countries as well as the institutes in these countries. The knowledge base of were the methodology studies of systematic review, epidemiological data of cancer, and the reporting guideline of systematic reviews. The adjuvant therapy combined CRS, the screening of skin cancer and the management of cancer-related pain were the hotspots.