Scientific publications on hepatocellular carcinoma: a global survey of the literature with a special emphasis on China’s contributions

Abstract

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary malignancy of the liver associated with a high morbidity and mortality. Scientific publications may be the most helpful method to distribute information and improve our understanding of HCC. A literature review aimed to systematically analyze the global distribution of scientific publications regarding HCC was performed. Methods: The Web of Science database was searched to identify all papers regarding HCC from January, 1980 to December, 2016. The major categories included the publication years, regions, journals, research areas, organizations, and funding agencies. Results: A total of 103,197 papers regarding HCC were identified. The number of papers gradually increased over years and peaked in 2016. USA, China, and Japan ranked as the top three countries in number of publications. In 2016, China ranked first as the country with the greatest number of publications. According to the number of papers published in 2016 by organization, Fudan University ranked first. According to the total number of papers by funding agency, the National Natural Science Foundation of China ranked first. Additionally, the top three research areas according to the total number of papers were gastroenterology/hepatology, oncology, and surgery; and the top three journals according to the total number of papers were Hepatology, Journal of Hepatology, and Word Journal of Gastroenterology. Conclusions: Our literature survey describes the global distribution of manuscripts in the field of HCC. Notably, Chinese researchers are now the leading publisher of manuscripts in the field.