Listening to the Past, Shaping the Future: A Data-mining Based and Visual Analysis of Five Decades of Gastric Carcinogenesis Research.

BACKGROUND

Gastric cancer remains a major global health concern with approximately one million new cases annually. Despite five decades of extensive research, comprehensive analysis mapping gastric carcinogenesis research evolution and emerging therapeutic frontiers remains limited. This study aims to systematically analyze the intellectual landscape, research trends, and future directions in gastric carcinogenesis research.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

We analyzed 11,527 scientific publications on gastric carcinogenesis from 1970-2024 using advanced scientometric tools including CiteSpace and VOSviewer for co-citation analysis, collaboration network mapping, and keyword co-occurrence analysis.

RESULTS

Publication output demonstrated exponential growth, peaking at 547 publications in 2022. Asia leads research productivity with China, Japan, and South Korea contributing 37.50% of total publications, while the United States exhibits highest collaborative influence with betweenness centrality of 0.45. Seven distinct research clusters emerged encompassing Helicobacter pylori pathogenesis, molecular mechanisms, precancerous lesions, autoimmune gastritis, and therapeutic interventions. Five emerging trends were identified: stromal microenvironment interactions in carcinogenesis progression, gastric organoid models for disease modeling, artificial intelligence-enhanced endoscopic detection technologies, biomarker development for early diagnosis, and traditional herbal medicine applications for chemoprevention.

CONCLUSIONS

Research gaps persist in autoimmune gastritis pathways and clinical translation of molecular discoveries. Emerging research directions encompass advanced modeling systems, molecular diagnostics, and technological applications, though their clinical impact remains to be established through future validation studies.