Abstract
Background: The number of publications on SMAD7 in the field of oncology is increasing rapidly with an upward tendency. In most cases, the mechanisms of carcinogenesis usually relate to disorders of signaling activity. Considering the crucial role of SMAD7 in the crosstalk of multiple signaling pathways, it is necessary to clarify and define the dominant research topics, core authors, and their cumulative research contributions, as well as the cooperative relationships among documents or researchers. Methods: Altogether, 3477 documents were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection with the following criteria: TS= (SMAD7 OR SMAD7-protein OR Small-Mothers-Against-Decapentaplegic-7) refined by WEB OF SCIENCE CATEGORY (ONCOLOGY) AND [excluding] PUBLICATION YEARS (2021) AND DOCUMENT TYPES (ARTICLE OR REVIEW) AND LANGUAGES (ENGLISH) AND WEB OF SCIENCE INDEX (Web of Science Core Collection, SCI), and the timespan of 2011–2020. Bibliometric visualization analysis was conducted with CiteSpace and VOSviewer. Results: The number of documents grew each year. A total of 2703 articles and 774 reviews were identified from 86 countries/regions, 3524 organizations, 928 journals, and 19,745 authors. China was the most prolific country, with 1881 documents. Contributions from China, the United States, and Germany were the most substantial. The most influential author was Lan Huiyao at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, with 24 publications and 2348 total citations. The bibliometric analysis showed that multilateral cooperation among diverse institutions or investigators was beneficial to high-quality outputs. The keyword “PPAR-gamma” exhibited the strongest burst in recent years, suggesting a potent research focus in the future. Conclusion: Research on SMAD7 in oncology is continuously developing. Bibliometrics is an interesting tool to present the characteristics of publication years, main authors, and productive organizations in a visualized way. It is worth mentioning that a prospective focus might be the specific mechanism of the interaction of PPAR-gamma with SMAD7 in oncology. In all, bibliometric analysis provides an overview and identifies potential research trends for further studies in this academic field.
Highlights
Small mothers against decapentaplegic (SMAD) protein family members are commonly divided into three main categories according to their specific mechanisms and participation in diverse signaling pathways
Based on the hypothesis that SMAD7 deregulation is linked to several types of cancers (Ha et al, 2019; Tong et al, 2020; Troncone and Monteleone, 2019), we aimed to perform a bibliometric analysis on SMAD7 research in the scope of oncology
To ensure whether the growth of publications about SMAD7 in oncology conforms to Price’s Law, exponential and linear adjustments were performed with the acquired data
Summary
Small mothers against decapentaplegic (SMAD) protein family members are commonly divided into three main categories according to their specific mechanisms and participation in diverse signaling pathways. Smad, Smad, and Smad (bone morphogenetic protein, BMP pathway), as well as Smad and Smad (transforming growth factor, TGF pathway) are classified as receptor-regulated SMADs (R-SMADs). Cytokines of the TGF signaling pathway and BMP signaling pathway are essential elements for normal development and physiology, with roles in regulating cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and migration (Heine et al, 1987; Kishigami and Mishina, 2005). As critical mediators of the TGF-beta and BMP pathways, SMAD proteins can directly regulate the transcription of specific genes in these signaling pathways (Derynck et al, 1998) and participate in crosstalk with other signaling pathways. Considering the crucial role of SMAD7 in the crosstalk of multiple signaling pathways, it is necessary to clarify and define the dominant research topics, core authors, and their cumulative research contributions, as well as the cooperative relationships among documents or researchers
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