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Research Article - (2021) Volume 11, Issue 3

Research Trends in Oncology: A Scientometric Analysis

Shilpa B. S1* and S. Padmamma2*
 
*Correspondence: Shilpa B. S, Department of Library and Information Science, Kuvempu University, Shankaraghatta Shivamoga, Karnataka, India, Tel: +91 9164151842, Email: S. Padmamma, Department of Library and Information Science, Kuvempu University, Shankaraghatta Shivamoga, Karnataka, India, Email:

Author info »

Abstract

This paper highlights the publication status and growth of oncology research across the world and makes quantitative and qualitative assessment by way of analyzing various features of research output based on Web of Science database during the period 2011-2020. A total of 89,857 publications were published on oncology. The parameters studied include: year-wise growth of publications, country-wise distribution of publications, highly productive institutes, and highly preferred journals for publications by scientists. The highest numbers of articles were published in the year 2020 and the lowest number of articles was published in the year 2011. The majority of the researchers prefer to publish their research papers in journal articles. Devidas M an Indian researcher is in first place in global ranking by contributing 209 articles in the field of oncology. Harvard University from USA is at first place by contributing 5,133 articles. The USA is found to be the highest country that contributed 43.18% of articles. Journal of Clinical Oncology stands at the first position with 5,339 articles.

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Keywords

Oncology, Scientometrics, Web of Science, Cancer.

Introduction

Oncology is a field of medicine that is concerned with cancer prohibitions, treatment, and care. A physician who works in the field of oncology is an oncologist (Robson et al., 2010). Doctors should first make a diagnosis of cancer, which is typically managed to accomplish through biopsy, endoscopy, X-ray, CT scanning, MRI, PET scanning, ultrasound, or other radiological processes (Weissleder and Pittet, 2008). Nuclear medicine, as well as blood tests and tumor markers, can be used to diagnose cancer. Oncology is frequently associated with hematology, the branch of medicine concerned with blood and blood-related disorders. The major types of cancer are breast cancer, ovarian cancer, lung cancer, brain cancer, thyroid cancer, skin cancer, bladder cancer, prostate cancer, lymphoma, blood cancer, etc. Scientometrics is a branch of the science ‘Science of Science’ (Shilpa et al., 2019). Haitun treats ‘Scientometrics’, as a scientific discipline, which performs reproducible measurements of scientific activity (Haitun, 1983). Scientometric is a method of studying the growth and pattern of science by analyzing scientific publications. The bibliometrics, scientometrics, and informetrics techniques are used to evaluate various important factors of a publication (Hood and Wilson, 2001). The majority of scientometric researches are conducted to examine an institution's or organization's quality of the research, publications of a specific subject discipline, research findings reported in a specific journal, or any other similar activity restricted to literary works or growth of research as well as its analysis through statistical methods published during a particular period.

Several scientometric studies on various subject disciplines have been conducted on a global level. Glynn et al. studied the research trend in breast cancer from 1945 to 2008 and revealed that research papers from countries with high levels of international collaboration had higher average citation rates. Raja, Ram Kumar, and Viji have analyzed global thyroid cancer research by using the scientometric technique. Pouris and Pourish have studied HIV/AIDS research output in the South Africa region. Senthilkumar and Muthukrishnan have conducted a citation analysis study on the British Journal of Cancer and found that a maximum number of citations were received in the year 2006. Shao et al. study revealed that 30 major international oncology journals do not represent the overall productivity in the field of oncology. Santhanakarthikeyan and Jeyshankar (2014) estimated that by 2020, 70 percent of all cancer cases will be in developing countries, with India accounting for one-fifth of these, with a population of over one billion people.

Senthilkumar and Muthukrishnan (2016) have studied 10,681 research papers published in Annals of Oncology. The study analyzed year-wise research output, authorship pattern, author affiliation, international collaboration, etc. Sab, Kumar and Biradar (2017) studied the research productivity of Indian biomedicine literature. The study found that In India, high-quality research is inadequate, necessitating business strategy, financing, and resource assistance. Muthukrishnan & Senthilkumar (2017) analyzed research output in the British journal of cancer from 2005 to 2015. The study analyzed the growth of literature, most prolific authors, keyword occurrence, author affiliation, etc. Sadik Batcha (2018) indicated in his study that Indian oral cancer research is continuously increasing. Mushtaq and Loan (2019) study revealed that the assessment of the nature of authorship collaboration highly reflects that medical scientists from India and Iran work together as a team with other researchers from both within and without India to find the final treatment for colorectal cancer. Shilpa and Padmamma (2020) examined 12, 75,877 research papers indexed in the PubMed database from 2010 to 2019. The study found that the relative growth rate was in a declining trend and doubling time was in increasing trend during the study period. Masjedi et al. study revealed that the USA was the most collaborative country, with no close collaboration reported with China, which was introduced as the most productive country in the oncology field. Huang, Zhao and Xiang (2021) have found that most contributed countries, institutions/organizations, and authors are the United States of America, Mem Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Mao JJ, whose frequencies are 196 articles, 24 articles, and 17 articles, respectively.

Need for the study

Librarians, scientists, researchers, and academic professionals should identify and assess recent developments in their field of interest. Scientometric is a tool to evaluate the research trend in a particular subject. Many research studies on the oncology field are done during the past decade. Hence there is a need to identify the research trend, institution's research output, prominent researcher's productivity, and core journals in the field of oncology. Scientometric analysis divulges the scattering of research in a particular subject as well as its impact. This research assists policymakers during evolving library acquisition and collection. And also there have been no such studies conducted to identify the growth of literature in oncology research as a whole for such a long duration i.e., 2011 to 2020.

Objectives of the study

The main objective of the study is to present the growth of world literature on oncology and make a quantitative assessment of the status of the research by way of analyzing the following features of research output:

• Annual growth of publications.

• document types used by the scientists,

• most prolific authors in the field,

• organizational distribution,

• the extent of international collaboration,

• Ranking of journals based on number of publications.

Statement of the problem

The statement of the problem is "Research Trends in Oncology: A Scientometric Analysis".

Methodology

This study is conducted to analyze the global research output in oncology literature. The necessary data was collected from the Web of Science database for the period 2011-2020 i.e., for ten years. The researcher has accessed the www.webofscience.com website to retrieve the necessary data. In the basic search field, the word "Oncology" has been employed by selecting topic search to download the bibliographic data. A total of 89,857 publications were retrieved from the Web of Science database. The downloaded data was analyzed by using the Histcite software and Microsoft Excel spreadsheet application as per the objectives of the study. This research study explores the year-wise distribution of publications, most prolific authors, ranking of journals and institutions, the geographical distribution of publications in oncology research during the study period.

Results and Discussion

Annual growth of publications

Table 1 depicts the year-wise research output in oncology literature from 2011 to 2020. There is a total of 89,857 papers are published on oncology literature during the study period. The highest number of articles i.e. 12,879 (14.33%) was published in the year 2020. The lowest number of articles 6,039 (6.72%) was published in the year 2011. The global output in Oncology has gradually increased year by year from 6,039 in 2011 to 12,879 in 2020. The study found that there is an increasing trend during the study period (Figure 1).

Sl. No. Year No. of records Percentage Cumulative records Cumulative percentage
1 2011 6039 6.72 89857 100
2 2012 7028 7.82 83818 93.28
3 2013 7448 8.29 76790 85.46
4 2014 7586 8.44 69342 77.17
5 2015 8132 9.05 61756 68.73
6 2016 8991 10.01 53624 59.68
7 2017 9914 11.03 44633 49.67
8 2018 10717 11.93 34719 38.64
9 2019 11123 12.38 24002 26.71
10 2020 12879 14.33 12879 14.33
Total 89857 100    

Table 1: Annual Growth of Publications

ijlis-Growth

Figure 1: Annual Growth of Publications

Channels used for communicating oncology research

It has been observed from Table 2 that there are many communication channels were used by scientists to publish their research papers in oncology literature. The highest number of publications are published in the form of articles i.e. 56,166 (62.51%), followed by Meeting Abstracts 13,754 (15.31%) publications, Review Articles 12,597 (14.02%) publications, Editorial Materials 4,167 (4.64%) publications, Letters 1,136 (1.26%) publications and less than 1% of articles are published in other communication channels.

Sl. No. Communication channels No. of records Percentage
1 Articles 56166 62.51
2 Meeting abstracts 13754 15.31
3 Review articles 12597 14.02
4 Editorial materials 4167 4.64
5 Letters 1136 1.26
6 Proceedings papers 1002 1.12
7 Corrections 292 0.32
8 News items 231 0.26
9 Book chapters 182 0.20
10 Early access 181 0.20
11 Book reviews 67 0.07
12 Biographical-items 49 0.05
13 Data papers 14 0.02
14 Retracted publications 10 0.01
15 Reprints 3 0.00
16 Retractions 2 0.00
17 Bibliographies 1 0.00
18 Hardware reviews 1 0.00
19 Meeting summary 1 0.00
20 Poetry 1 0.00
Total 89857 100

Table 2: Channels used for Communicating Oncology Research

Most productive authors

Table 3 shows the highly productive authors from global oncology research output during the study period.The top 25 authors having been identified as the most productive authors in global oncology research. According to the study highest publications are by Devidas M from India occupies the first rank with 209 (0.233%) articles and her h-index is 41, followed by Wang J published 206 (0.229%) and his h-index is 32, Kim J H published 203 (0.226%) articles and his h-index is 28, Liu Y published 185 (0.206%) articles and his h-index is 29 (Figure 2).

Sl. No. Authors No. of records Percentage Ranking h-index
1 Devidas M 209 0.233 1 41
2 Wang J 206 0.229 2 32
3 Kim JH 203 0.226 3 28
4 Liu Y 185 0.206 4 29
5 Wang Y 185 0.206 4 32
6 Li J 183 0.204 5 39
7 Alonzo TA 166 0.185 6 29
8 Kim J 162 0.180 7 29
9 Zhang Y 162 0.180 7 25
10 Lee J 157 0.175 8 25
11 Kim S 156 0.174 9 28
12 Chen L 153 0.170 10 34
13 Wang L 153 0.170 10 29
14 Carroll WL 145 0.161 11 39
15 Zhang L 143 0.159 12 29
16 Hunger SP 141 0.157 13 42
17 Sung L 140 0.156 14 27
18 Chen Y 139 0.155 15 26
19 Zhang J 136 0.151 16 20
20 Aplenc R 134 0.149 17 20
21 Gamis AS 133 0.148 18 23
22 Bruera E 131 0.146 13 34
23 Meshinchi S 130 0.145 20 25
24 Miaskowski C 130 0.145 20 31
25 Li Y 126 0.140 21 26
Total 3908 4.35    

Table 3: Most Productive Authors

ijlis-Prolific

Figure 2: Most Prolific Author

Institution/organizational productivity in oncology literature

Table 4 reveals the ranking list of the top 25 highly productive institutions/organizations based on their highest publications. According to the web of science database Harvard University, USA contributed the highest publications to the field of oncology i.e. 5,133 (5.71%) publications, followed by University of Texas System, USA published 5,044 (5.61%) articles, University of California System, USA contributed 4,011 (4.46%) articles, UTMD Anderson Cancer Center, USA published 3,898 (4.34%) articles, University of Toronto, Canada produced 3,132 (3.49%) publications.

Sl. No. Institutions Records Percentage
1 Harvard University, USA 5133 5.71
2 University of Texas System, USA 5044 5.61
3 University of California System, USA 4011 4.46
4 UTMD Anderson Cancer Center, USA 3898 4.34
5 University of Toronto, Canada 3132 3.49
6 Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, USA 2989 3.33
7 Dana Farber Cancer Institute, USA 2807 3.12
8 UNICANCER, France 2797 3.11
9 University of Pennsylvania, USA 2197 2.44
10 Mayo Clinic, USA 2068 2.30
11 University of London, UK 2024 2.25
12 Johns Hopkins University, USA 1991 2.22
13 University of California San Francisco, USA 1796 2.00
14 National Institutes of Health, USA 1774 1.97
15 Massachusetts General Hospital, USA 1671 1.86
16 INSERM, France 1665 1.85
17 Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education, USA 1643 1.83
18 Duke University, USA 1618 1.80
19 Assistance Publique Hopitaux Paris, France 1596 1.78
20 University of Michigan, USA 1544 1.72
21 University of Michigan System, USA 1544 1.72
22 University Health Network Toronto, Canada 1530 1.70
23 University of Washington, USA 1512 1.68
24 Ohio State University, USA 1501 1.67
25 University of Washington Seattle, USA 1500 1.67
Total 58985 65.64

Table 4: Institution/Organizational Productivity

Ranking of countries

Table 5 indicates the ranking of the top 25 countries based on the number of publications. It is observed from Table 5 that the United States of America ranked first by producing 38,799 (43.18%) publications, Germany secured the second rank with 7,461 (8.30%) publications followed by England 7,351 (8.18%) publications, Canada contributed 7,109 (7.91%) publications and Italy produced 6,322 (7.04%) publications. India is in 18th place in global ranking by contributing 1402 (1.56%) publications. Compare to the USA, Germany, UK, Canada, France India has contributed very little in the field of oncology (Figure 3).

Sl. No. Country Records Percentage
1 USA 38799 43.18
2 Germany 7461 8.30
3 England 7351 8.18
4 Canada 7109 7.91
5 Italy 6322 7.04
6 France 5894 6.56
7 Peoples R China 4649 5.17
8 Australia 4453 4.96
9 Netherlands 4196 4.67
10 Japan 3694 4.11
11 Spain 3187 3.55
12 Switzerland 2457 2.73
13 Belgium 2107 2.34
14 South Korea 1922 2.14
15 Turkey 1691 1.88
16 Brazil 1481 1.65
17 Sweden 1468 1.63
18 India 1402 1.56
19 Austria 1368 1.52
20 Poland 1323 1.47
21 Denmark 1243 1.38
22 Greece 1131 1.26
23 Israel 1029 1.15
24 Scotland 907 1.01
25 Taiwan 881 0.98

Table 5: Ranking of Countries

ijlis-Ranking

Figure 3: Ranking of Countries

Subject-wise distribution of oncology research

Table 6 indicates the subject-wise distribution of oncology research during the study period. Oncology with 49, 275 (54.84%) publications, Radiology Nuclear Medicine Medical Imaging with 8,366 (9.31%) publications, Surgery with 6,000 (6.68%) publications, Hematology With 5654 (6.29%) publications, Pediatrics with 4,779 (5.32%) publications, Health Care Sciences Services with 4,707 (5.24%) publications were considered based on the total number of publications. It is observed from Table 6 that Oncology and Radiology Nuclear Medicine Medical Imaging and Surgery have been identified as the three high-priority research areas of global oncology research.

Sl. No. Subject category No. of records Percentage
1 Oncology 49275 54.84
2 Radiology Nuclear Medicine Medical Imaging 8366 9.31
3 Surgery 6000 6.68
4 Hematology 5654 6.29
5 Pediatrics 4779 5.32
6 Health Care Sciences Services 4707 5.24
7 Nursing 4354 4.85
8 Pharmacology Pharmacy 4273 4.76
9 Obstetrics Gynecology 3861 4.30
10 Clinical Neurology 3712 4.13
11 Medicine General Internal 3585 3.99
12 Social Sciences Biomedical 2746 3.06
13 Psychology 2697 3.00
14 Respiratory System 2665 2.97
15 Psychology Multidisciplinary 2653 2.95
16 Medicine Research Experimental 2237 2.49
17 Public Environmental Occupational Health 2194 2.44
18 Health Policy Services 1805 2.01
19 Rehabilitation 1712 1.91
20 Urology Nephrology 1514 1.68
21 Pathology 1337 1.49
22 Biochemistry Molecular Biology 1215 1.35
23 Immunology 1209 1.35
24 Multidisciplinary Sciences 1110 1.24
25 Cell Biology 1055 1.17

Table 6: Subject-Wise Distribution of Oncology Research

Ranking of journals based on number of publications

Based on the publications the Journal of Clinical Oncology from by American Society of Clinical Oncology, USA published the highest publications i.e. 5,339 articles and the journal has 44.54 impact factor, followed by Pediatric Blood Cancer journal from Wiley-Liss Inc., the USA is in the second rank by publishing 2,625 (2.92%) articles and the journal has 2.634 impact factor, Psycho-Oncology journal from John Wiley and Sons Ltd, the UK published 2,418 (2.69%) articles and the journal has 3.455, International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics from Elsevier Inc., the USA published 1,862 (2.07%) publications and its impact factor is 7.038, Oncology Nursing Forum from Oncology Nursing Society, the USA published 1,474 (1.64%) articles and the journal has 1.728 impact factor (Table 7).

Sl. No. Journals Publisher Impact  Factor Records Percentage
1 Journal of Clinical Oncology American Society of Clinical Oncology, USA 44.54 5339 5.94
2 Pediatric Blood Cancer Wiley-Liss Inc., USA 2.634 2625 2.92
3 Psycho Oncology John Wiley and Sons Ltd, UK 3.455 2418 2.69
4 International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics Elsevier Inc., USA 7.038 1862 2.07
5 Oncology Nursing Forum Oncology Nursing Society, USA 1.728 1474 1.64
6 European Respiratory Journal European Respiratory 12.34 1402 1.56
7 Radiotherapy and Oncology Elsevier Ireland Ltd., 4.856 1320 1.47
8 Supportive Care in Cancer Springer Verlag, Germany 2.698 1220 1.36
9 Gynecologic Oncology Academic Press Inc., USA 4.54 1192 1.33
10 Annals of Oncology Elsevier Ltd., UK 32.98 1178 1.31
11 EJSO W B Saunders Ltd., UK 3.959 1100 1.22
12 International Journal of Gynecological Cancer B M J Publishing Group, UK 3.437 813 0.90
13 Cancer John Wiley and Sons Ltd, USA 5.791 805 0.90
14 Value in Health Elsevier Ltd., UK 5.725 736 0.82
15 European Journal of Cancer Elsevier Ltd., UK 5.417 722 0.80
16 Journal of Neurosurgery American Association of
Neutological Surgeons, USA
4.13 712 0.79
17 Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing Oncology Nursing Society, USA 1.224 613 0.68
18 Lancet Oncology Lancet Publishing Group, UK 33.75
2
612 0.68
19 Plos One Public Library of Science, USA 3.24 610 0.68
20 Neuro Oncology Oxford University Press, UK 10.09 567 0.63
21 Journal of Oncology Practice American Society of Clinical Oncology, USA 3.84 553 0.62
22 Practical Radiation Oncology Elsevier BV, Netherlands 3.539 546 0.61
23 BMC Cancer Biomed Central Ltd., UK 4.4 527 0.59
24 Blood American Society of Hematology, USA 22.11 478 0.53
25 Oncologist Alpha Med Press, USA 5.025 454 0.51
Total 29878 33.25

Table 7: Ranking of Journals based on Number of Publications

Findings

• There are a total of 89,857 research papers published on oncology during 2011-2020.

• The highest numbers of articles 12,879 (14.33%) were published in the year 2020 and the lowest number of articles 6,039 (6.72%) were published in the year 2011.

• The study revealed that there is an increasing trend in oncology research from 2011 to 2020.

• The majority of the researchers prefer to publish their research papers in journal articles (62.51%).

• Devidas M an Indian researcher is in first place in global ranking by contributing 209 (0.233%) articles in the field of oncology.

• Harvard University, USA is at first place by contributing 5,133 (5.71%) articles.

• The majority of the most contributed institutions/organization is from the USA. Out of the top 25 institutions, 19 institutions are in the USA.

• The USA is found to be the highest country that contributed of 38,799 (43.18%) articles.

• The highest number of research papers i.e. 49275 (54.84%) published under the oncology subject category.

• Journal of Clinical Oncology stands at the first position with 5,339 (5.94%) articles.

Conclusion

The present study attempts to analyze the growth of literature on oncology based on research papers indexed in the Web of Science database. The results of the study indicate that oncology research is increasing trend in every year. India is in 18th rank in the global ranking. But in terms of most prolific authors, the Indian author Devidas M (Meenakshi Devidas) is in first place in global ranking by contributing the highest number of publications. It shows that the Indian authors are interested to research in the oncology field. Hence, the Indian government and concerned departments should support financial assistance and provide infrastructure facilities in this regard. In respect of the h-index, Hunger S P author is stood first by having 42 h-index. When it comes to most contributed institutions, 19 institutions are from the USA, 3 institutions from France, 2 institutions from Canada, and 1 institute from the UK. These four countries occupied the ranking list of most prolific institutions by conducting excessive research in oncology; naturally, the USA is in first place in the global ranking. The highest number of research articles published under oncology and Radiology Nuclear Medicine Medical Imaging subjects. Based on a number of publications, the Journal of Clinical Oncology published by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, USA is secured first place by publishing 53.94% of articles, and also the journal has the highest impact (44.54) factor among the top 25 journals. All the top-ranked journals have the highest impact factor. The findings of the present study will be beneficial for scholars and scientists, and doctors who are engaged in research of various disciplines of oncology as well as policymakers in the field.

References

Author Info

Shilpa B. S1* and S. Padmamma2*
 
1Department of Library and Information Science, Kuvempu University, Shankaraghatta Shivamoga, Karnataka, India
2Department of Library and Information Science, Kuvempu University, Shankaraghatta Shivamoga, Karnataka, India
 

Received: 15-Oct-2021 Published: 05-Nov-2021

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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