Zhang YR, Zhu HR, Li HR, Cheng YL, Yang SH, Sun SL, Wang Z. Trends in nanomedicine for colorectal cancer treatment: Bibliometric and visualization analysis (2010-2024). World J Gastrointest Oncol 2025; 17(4): 102438 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v17.i4.102438]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Zheng Wang, Department of Internal Medicine, Shanghai Guanghua Hospital of Integrative Medicine, The Affiliated with Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 568 Xinhua Road, Shanghai 200052, China. willip@126.com
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Scientometrics
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Yu-Ren Zhang, Hui-Rong Zhu, Hao-Ran Li, Yue-Lei Cheng, Department of Oncology, Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China
Sun-Hu Yang, Su-Ling Sun, Department of General Surgery, Shanghai TCM-Integrated Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200082, China
Zheng Wang, Department of Internal Medicine, Shanghai Guanghua Hospital of Integrative Medicine, The Affiliated with Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200052, China
Co-first authors: Yu-Ren Zhang and Hui-Rong Zhu.
Co-corresponding authors: Su-Ling Sun and Zheng Wang.
Author contributions: Zhang YR and Zhu HR conceptualized and designed this study, and Zhang YR and Cheng YL searched for relevant literature from web databases. Sun SL conducted a bibliometric analysis using CiteSpace (6.2R6), VOSVivewer (1.6.20), and bibliometrics (based on R 4.3.2) to create visual maps of the published literature, including countries, institutions, authors, keywords, and references. Wang Z proposed the research direction and wrote the preliminary manuscript. Zhang YR, Sun SL and Li HR wrote the manuscript. Sun SL revised the manuscript for grammar and cross-checked the references. Yang SH provided comments on our manuscript. Zhang YR and Zhu HR made crucial and indispensable contributions to the completion of the manuscript and are, therefore, eligible to be co-first authors of the paper. Sun SL guided and supervised the research project and revised and submitted earlier versions of the manuscript. The collaboration between Sun SL and Wang Z was crucial for the publication of this manuscript.
Supported by Shanghai Municipal Health Commission Research Project, No. 202340156.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zheng Wang, Department of Internal Medicine, Shanghai Guanghua Hospital of Integrative Medicine, The Affiliated with Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 568 Xinhua Road, Shanghai 200052, China. willip@126.com
Received: October 18, 2024 Revised: December 25, 2024 Accepted: February 5, 2025 Published online: April 15, 2025 Processing time: 159 Days and 7.5 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Recently, numerous studies have reported the application of nanomedicines in colorectal cancer treatment. However, no systematic bibliometric analysis has been conducted to examine the potential and mechanisms of action of nanomedicine in this context. Such an analysis may provide a comprehensive overview of the current research landscape, identify emerging trends, and highlight key areas for future investigation.
AIM
To describe the current global research landscape on the application of nanomedicine in colorectal cancer treatment.
METHODS
The Web of Science Core Collection database was searched for literature published from January 1, 2010, to August 7, 2024, focusing on the application of nanomedicine in colorectal cancer treatment. Bibliometric analysis and visualization mapping of countries, institutions, authors, keywords, references of the relevant research literature were conducted using CiteSpace (6.2R6), VOSviewer (1.6.20), and bibliometrix (based on R 4.3.2).
RESULTS
A total of 3598 articles were included, with a rapid increase in publication volume starting from 2010. China published the most papers on this topic, followed by the United States and India. The United States emerged as the central country in this field, and the Egyptian Knowledge Bank and Chinese Academy of Sciences were the institutions with the highest number of publications. The Chinese Academy of Sciences exhibited the highest centrality. The most prolific author was Zhang Y, whereas Siegel RL was the most cited author, and Li Y had the highest H-index. The International Journal of Nanomedicine had the most publications and Biomaterials received the most citations. Keyword co-occurrence analysis identified 11837 keywords grouped into 13 clusters with 15 high-frequency highlighted keywords. The top three keyword clusters were “0 colorectal cancer”, “1 drug delivery”, and “2 delivery”, with the top three keywords being “nanoparticles”, “colorectal cancer”, and “drug delivery”.
CONCLUSION
Research on nanomedicine for colorectal cancer has surged since 2010, focusing on “nanoparticles” and “drug delivery”. Future studies should investigate nanomaterial stability and target-specific drug release.
Core Tip: This study applied bibliometric analysis to track the evolution and trends in nanomedicine for colorectal cancer from 2010 to 2024. It identified China as the leading publishing country, highlighted the pivotal role of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and underscored the surge in research post-2010. The analysis pinpoints “nanoparticles” and “drug delivery” as the dominant themes, suggesting that future research should address nanomaterial stability and targeted drug release to enhance therapeutic efficacy.
