Visualized Hotspots and Trends in Oncological Ferroptosis: a Bibliometric Analysis (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Background: Ferroptosis is a novel modality of cell death triggered by iron-dependent accumulation of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and lipid peroxidation. It can occur during various types of physiological and pathological states. The discovery of ferroptosis shed light on treatment resistance and gave birth to the therapy choices in clinical oncology. OBJECTIVE To clearly understand the current state and research trend in oncological ferroptosis, we used bibliometric analysis as a tool to visualize the hotspots and detect research trends in this field. METHODS Manuscripts in oncological ferroptosis were collected from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). Bibliometric analysis was accomplished by integrating multiple analysis tools. SATI (Statistical Analysis Toolkit for Informetric) was used to generalize the volume of manuscripts and productive journals. VosViewer and CiteSpace were used to detect influencers, hotspots, and trends in this field. RESULTS A total of 1171 manuscripts were analyzed. Through bibliometric analysis, we found that oncological ferroptosis has witnessed a sharp increase in the volume of manuscripts and continues to prosper. In terms of journal analysis, it shows that Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications was the most active producer in this field. Meanwhile, according to researchers' analysis, we found Daolin Tang has been dedicated to ferroptotic oncology researches and concentrated in oncological ferroptosis and autophagy. Also, listed as the third of the most active researcher and top 5 of the most co-cited researchers, Brent R Stockwell is one of the influencers in this field with high centrality. Moreover, “ferroptosis”, “apoptosis”, “autophagy”, “iron”, and “gpx 4” are the hotspots, and the reference by Dixon SJ, which proposed the concept of ferroptosis for the first time, was the most co-cited. Through burst detections, we found three words: “lipid peroxidation” “autophagy” and “glutathione” and five references under citation bursts recently; they may be the next hotspots in this field. CONCLUSIONS To our knowledge, this is the first bibliometric analysis in oncological ferroptosis. With researchers participating actively, the mechanisms under oncological ferroptosis began to be uncovered. Extraordinary efforts and intense cooperation are needed for the future development of oncological ferroptosis.