Zeitschrift für Zellwissenschaft und Therapie
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The Future of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in Cancer: A Bibliometric Analysis

Domhnall J O Connor*, Laura R Barkley, Michael J Kerin

Background: Mesenchymal stromal/stem cells have garnered much interest in the field of cancer biology. Bibliometric analysis of a scientific field has the potential to reveal insights pertaining to the maturity of the field, the hotspot sources of publication and temporal shifts in research subcategories within the field. Despite the benefits of such an analysis, one has not been conducted to date.

Methods: The Web of Science™ database and VOS viewer software were used to analyse publication and citation data for all publications relating to Mesenchymal Stromal/Stem Cells in oncology. Contributions to the literature were also identified by country, journal and cancer type. Keyword analysis identified trends in developing research categories.

Results: 9927 published articles were analysed. The current publication rate fits an exponential trend (e=0.97). The U.S. and the People’s Republic of China have the highest overall publications but when corrected for population and citations per article, the most successful countries are Singapore, Luxembourg and Switzerland. In the past 15 years 74% of articles have been in cancer specific journals. Breast cancer publications account for 42% of common cancer articles. Most articles were published in journals that had a basic science focus (44%). Keyword analysis resulted in 3 distinct clusters aligned with 1. Characterisation and nomenclature, 2. Clinical and 3. Molecular function. The most recent publications favour topics on Molecular function.

Conclusions: Research on Mesenchymal Stromal/Stem Cells in oncology is experiencing exponential growth. There is widespread acceptance of basic science research on Mesenchymal Stem Cell (MSC) in cancer specific journals and a niche for more translational and clinically focused studies.