Status and development of research on clear cell carcinoma of the ovary-a visualization-based bibliometric analysis.

ABSTRACT

Background: Clear cell carcinoma of the ovary (CCCO) is a relatively rare type of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) that has unique biological characteristics and clinical features. Researchers have paid less attention to this disease than to other types of EOCs. However, in recent years, research in this area has still progressed. In this paper, a bibliometric analysis is used to integrate and analyse the literature in the field of CCCO in the past 20 years to determine research development, better understand the current status of research, and provide a reference for future study directions in this field. Methods: With CCCO as the research subject, relevant publications indexed in the Web of Science (WOS) core dataset from September 2003 to September 2023 were retrieved. After screening the publications, we used EXCEL, VOSviewer, CiteSpace, Charticulator, Gephi, OriginPro and other tools to perform in-depth analyses of and to visualize the data. Results: Through a comprehensive analysis of the literature in this field, we found that research on CCCO experienced a relatively rapid increase in 2006 and is now in a period of relatively high fluctuation. The quality of the literature in this field is generally high. In this field, countries in East Asia and North America play core roles, with Japan accounting for the most studies. A stable research group has been formed in this field, and extensive collaboration has occurred among the various research groups. In the past 20 years, basic research and clinical research in the field of CCCO have developed together, and a healthy development model in which basic and clinical research promote each other has formed. Research in this field has been continuously developed from a preliminary understanding of clinical features to in-depth explorations of the pathogenesis and the continuous optimization of treatment methods. The key molecular events in the pathogenesis and development of this disease and the application of novel antitumour drugs for this disease are the current research focuses and the future development direction in this field. Conclusions: Research on CCCO has progressed significantly in the past 20 years, but there are still many important issues regarding its pathogenesis and treatment that need to be addressed, and therefore, more research in this area should be conducted in the future. The study of key molecular events and the use of novel antitumour drugs are future development directions in this field.