Publication Trends of Research on Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma During 2002 to 2022: A 20-Year Bibliometric Study

BACKGROUND: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common cancer worldwide. Our study attempted to analyze the research trends in HNSCC and compare contributions from different countries, institutions, journals, and authors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The authors extracted publications in this field from 2002 to 2022 from the Web of Science database. Microsoft Excel and VOSviewer were performed to collect data on publication numbers, analyze publication trends, and visualize relevant results. RESULTS: A total of 1903 publications were screened. In the past 20 years, the United States contributed the most publications and citations in the HNSCC research. China ranked second in the number of publications. The Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery was the most productive journal concerning HNSCC. ESMAELIB of the University of Texas System and ROSENTHAL EL of Stanford University had published the most publications in this field. Keywords were categorized into 3 clusters: basic study, clinical feature study, and treatment-related study. The keywords “reflectance confocal microscopy”, “raman-spectroscopy”, and “confocal laser endomicroscopy” were most frequently emerged in the recent years. Management-related research has been recognized as a potential focus in the HNSCC.