Research Trends in the Relationship Between Orofacial Cleft and Cancer: A Bibliometric and Network Visualization Study

Abstract

Objective

To use the bibliographic data of publications regarding the association between orofacial cleft (OC) and cancer to examine the implications of publication growth, co-citation, co-words, and authorship networks using bibliometric indicators and network visualization.

Methods

Bibliometric study analyzed documents related to the association between OC and cancer. Data were obtained in October 2023 from the Scopus, Pubmed, Web of Science. The search strategy was developed, and data obtained were imported into R (“bibliometrix”) for analysis. Results: 70 documents were found from 1977 to 2023. Most were journal articles (90.0%) designed as case–control studies (42.8%). American Journal of Epidemiology was the most relevant source. The most cited document was Frebourg T, et al. (2006). Vieira A, Martelli-Junior were the most cited author. Most authors were affiliated to Brazil (University of Montes Claros) and United States (University of Pittsburgh). Research in this thematic has included children and adults of both sexes. Research trend points to gastric cancer, leukemia and breast cancer as the most investigated cancers in association to OC.

Conclusion

This bibliometric analysis helps fill research gaps regarding the knowledge of the relationship between OC and cancer, providing some clues for selecting future research in this topic.

KEY POINTS

Analysis of publications regarding the association between orofacial cleft and cancer highlighted:

• The majority of publications as journal articles (90.0%) designed as case–control studies (42.8%).

• American Journal of Epidemiology was the most relevant source.

• The most global cited documents were Frebourg T, et al. (2006).

• Vieira A, Martelli-Junior was the top author of the published literature and the most local cited author.

• Most of the authors were mainly affiliated to Universities from Brazil (University of Montes Claros) and United States (University of Pittsburgh).

• Motor themes of study include genetic association studies, investigating single nucleotides polymorphisms shared by OC and cancer types.

• Research in this thematic has included children and adults of both sexes. Research trend points to gastric cancer, leukemia and breast cancer as the most investigated cancers in association to OC.

Keywords:

• Cleft lip
• cleft palate
• neoplasms
• bibliometrics

Acknowledgments

State University of Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana, BA, Brazil

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia – FAPESB

Ethics approval

Not applicable.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Code availability

Not applicable.

Authors’ contributions

The authors (AMS, VSF) confirm responsibility for the following: study conception and design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of results, and manuscript preparation.

Declaration of interest

There are no competing interests for any author.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia – FAPESB.