More than Five Decades of Proton Therapy: A Bibliometric Overview of the Scientific Literature
Background: The therapeutic potential of proton therapy (PT) was first recognized in 1946 by Robert Wilson, and nowadays, over 100 proton centers are in operation worldwide, and more than 60 are under construction or planned. Bibliometric data can be used to perform a structured analysis of large am...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Cancers |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/15/23/5545 |
| _version_ | 1797400408994349056 |
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| author | Maria Giulia Vincini Mattia Zaffaroni Marco Schwarz Giulia Marvaso Federico Mastroleo Stefania Volpe Luca Bergamaschi Giovanni Carlo Mazzola Giulia Corrao Roberto Orecchia Barbara Alicja Jereczek-Fossa Daniela Alterio |
| author_facet | Maria Giulia Vincini Mattia Zaffaroni Marco Schwarz Giulia Marvaso Federico Mastroleo Stefania Volpe Luca Bergamaschi Giovanni Carlo Mazzola Giulia Corrao Roberto Orecchia Barbara Alicja Jereczek-Fossa Daniela Alterio |
| author_sort | Maria Giulia Vincini |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: The therapeutic potential of proton therapy (PT) was first recognized in 1946 by Robert Wilson, and nowadays, over 100 proton centers are in operation worldwide, and more than 60 are under construction or planned. Bibliometric data can be used to perform a structured analysis of large amounts of scientific data to provide new insights, e.g., to assess the growth and development of the field and to identify research trends and hot topics. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the current status and trends in scientific literature in the PT field. Methods: The literature on PT until the 31st December 2022 in the Scopus database was searched, including the following keywords: <i>proton</i> AND <i>radiotherapy</i> AND <i>cancer</i>/<i>tumor</i> in title, abstract, and/or keywords. The open-source R Studio’s Bibliometrix package and Biblioshiny software (version 2.0) were used to perform the analysis. Results: A total of 7335 documents, mainly articles (n = 4794, 65%) and reviews (n = 1527, 21%), were collected from 1946 to 2022 from 1054 sources and 21,696 authors. Of these, roughly 84% (n = 6167) were produced in the last 15 years (2008–2022), in which the mean annual growth rate was 13%. Considering the corresponding author’s country, 79 countries contributed to the literature; the USA was the top contributor, with 2765 (38%) documents, of whom 84% were single-country publications (SCP), followed by Germany and Japan, with 535 and 531 documents of whom 66% and 93% were SCP. Considering the themes subanalysis (2002–2022), a total of 7192 documents were analyzed; among all keywords used by authors, the top three were radiotherapy (n = 1394, 21% of documents), intensity-modulated radiotherapy (n = 301, 5%), and prostate cancer (n = 301, 5%). Among disease types, prostate cancer is followed by chordoma, head and neck, and breast cancer. The change in trend themes demonstrated the fast evolution of hotspots in PT; among the most recent trends, the appearance of flash, radiomics, <i>relative biological effectiveness (RBE)</i>, and <i>linear energy transfer (LET)</i> deserve to be highlighted. Conclusions: The results of the present bibliometric analysis showed that PT is an active and rapidly increasing field of research. Themes of the published works encompass the main aspects of its application in clinical practice, such as the comparison with the actual photon-based standard of care technique and the continuing technological advances. This analysis gives an overview of past scientific production and, most importantly, provides a useful point of view on the future directions of the research activities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T01:54:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c69a516bf5cf4e7e8d8fb19297e536f9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-6694 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T01:54:23Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cancers |
| spelling | doaj.art-c69a516bf5cf4e7e8d8fb19297e536f92023-12-08T15:12:30ZengMDPI AGCancers2072-66942023-11-011523554510.3390/cancers15235545More than Five Decades of Proton Therapy: A Bibliometric Overview of the Scientific LiteratureMaria Giulia Vincini0Mattia Zaffaroni1Marco Schwarz2Giulia Marvaso3Federico Mastroleo4Stefania Volpe5Luca Bergamaschi6Giovanni Carlo Mazzola7Giulia Corrao8Roberto Orecchia9Barbara Alicja Jereczek-Fossa10Daniela Alterio11Division of Radiation Oncology, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, 20141 Milan, ItalyDivision of Radiation Oncology, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, 20141 Milan, ItalyRadiation Oncology Department, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98109, USADivision of Radiation Oncology, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, 20141 Milan, ItalyDivision of Radiation Oncology, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, 20141 Milan, ItalyDivision of Radiation Oncology, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, 20141 Milan, ItalyDivision of Radiation Oncology, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, 20141 Milan, ItalyDivision of Radiation Oncology, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, 20141 Milan, ItalyDivision of Radiation Oncology, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, 20141 Milan, ItalyScientific Directorate, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, 20141 Milan, ItalyDivision of Radiation Oncology, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, 20141 Milan, ItalyDivision of Radiation Oncology, IEO European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, 20141 Milan, ItalyBackground: The therapeutic potential of proton therapy (PT) was first recognized in 1946 by Robert Wilson, and nowadays, over 100 proton centers are in operation worldwide, and more than 60 are under construction or planned. Bibliometric data can be used to perform a structured analysis of large amounts of scientific data to provide new insights, e.g., to assess the growth and development of the field and to identify research trends and hot topics. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the current status and trends in scientific literature in the PT field. Methods: The literature on PT until the 31st December 2022 in the Scopus database was searched, including the following keywords: <i>proton</i> AND <i>radiotherapy</i> AND <i>cancer</i>/<i>tumor</i> in title, abstract, and/or keywords. The open-source R Studio’s Bibliometrix package and Biblioshiny software (version 2.0) were used to perform the analysis. Results: A total of 7335 documents, mainly articles (n = 4794, 65%) and reviews (n = 1527, 21%), were collected from 1946 to 2022 from 1054 sources and 21,696 authors. Of these, roughly 84% (n = 6167) were produced in the last 15 years (2008–2022), in which the mean annual growth rate was 13%. Considering the corresponding author’s country, 79 countries contributed to the literature; the USA was the top contributor, with 2765 (38%) documents, of whom 84% were single-country publications (SCP), followed by Germany and Japan, with 535 and 531 documents of whom 66% and 93% were SCP. Considering the themes subanalysis (2002–2022), a total of 7192 documents were analyzed; among all keywords used by authors, the top three were radiotherapy (n = 1394, 21% of documents), intensity-modulated radiotherapy (n = 301, 5%), and prostate cancer (n = 301, 5%). Among disease types, prostate cancer is followed by chordoma, head and neck, and breast cancer. The change in trend themes demonstrated the fast evolution of hotspots in PT; among the most recent trends, the appearance of flash, radiomics, <i>relative biological effectiveness (RBE)</i>, and <i>linear energy transfer (LET)</i> deserve to be highlighted. Conclusions: The results of the present bibliometric analysis showed that PT is an active and rapidly increasing field of research. Themes of the published works encompass the main aspects of its application in clinical practice, such as the comparison with the actual photon-based standard of care technique and the continuing technological advances. This analysis gives an overview of past scientific production and, most importantly, provides a useful point of view on the future directions of the research activities.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/15/23/5545proton therapybibliometric analysisbibliometrics |
| spellingShingle | Maria Giulia Vincini Mattia Zaffaroni Marco Schwarz Giulia Marvaso Federico Mastroleo Stefania Volpe Luca Bergamaschi Giovanni Carlo Mazzola Giulia Corrao Roberto Orecchia Barbara Alicja Jereczek-Fossa Daniela Alterio More than Five Decades of Proton Therapy: A Bibliometric Overview of the Scientific Literature Cancers proton therapy bibliometric analysis bibliometrics |
| title | More than Five Decades of Proton Therapy: A Bibliometric Overview of the Scientific Literature |
| title_full | More than Five Decades of Proton Therapy: A Bibliometric Overview of the Scientific Literature |
| title_fullStr | More than Five Decades of Proton Therapy: A Bibliometric Overview of the Scientific Literature |
| title_full_unstemmed | More than Five Decades of Proton Therapy: A Bibliometric Overview of the Scientific Literature |
| title_short | More than Five Decades of Proton Therapy: A Bibliometric Overview of the Scientific Literature |
| title_sort | more than five decades of proton therapy a bibliometric overview of the scientific literature |
| topic | proton therapy bibliometric analysis bibliometrics |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/15/23/5545 |
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