A Bibliometric Analysis on the Risk Factors of Cancer

Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 2025 Jan;64(1):e70019. doi: 10.1002/gcc.70019.

Abstract

Given the high lethality of cancer, identifying its risk factors is crucial in both epidemiology and cancer research. This study employs a novel bibliometric analysis method, which uses the tidytext package and tidy tools in R. This approach surpasses traditional tools like VOSviewer, offering more comprehensive and complex keyword data and clearer results compared to Bibliometrix. By using R, researchers can efficiently handle useful keywords, ignore irrelevant terms, adjust specific settings, and correct errors such as repeated evaluations. This study examines 1000 articles sourced from the Web of Science database, using advanced bibliometric tools like R Studio to analyze publication quantity, frequency, and word co-occurrences. The primary goal is to uncover key risk factors associated with cancer and explore the underlying mechanisms that link these factors to cancer development. Risk factors are categorized into exogenous (environmental exposures and lifestyle choices) and endogenous (genetic predispositions and hormonal imbalances). By providing a comprehensive analysis of these factors, the study aims to deepen our understanding of cancer risk. This research contributes valuable insights to the broader field of cancer research and has the potential to inform future studies and strategies for cancer prevention and treatment.

Keywords: R studio; bibliometric analysis; cancer research; web of science.

MeSH terms

  • Bibliometrics*
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease
  • Humans
  • Neoplasms* / epidemiology
  • Risk Factors