Bibliometric and Visual Analysis of Global Research on Cancer and Illness Representation: From 2003 to 2023

Abstract

Objective: The study aimed to summarize the development process, knowledge structure, hotspots, and frontiers of global research on cancer and illness representation through bibliometrics, so as to provide a macroscopic view of this field for researchers. Methods: Publications related to cancer and illness representation from January 2003 to December 2023 were searched from the Web of Science Core Collection database. CiteSpace was used for co-authorship, co-citation, and co-occurrence analysis of countries, institutions, authors, keywords, and references in this field. Results: A total of 2,533 publications were identified. The United States had the most publications. The University of California was the most productive institution. Lonneke V van de Poll-Franse published the greatest number of articles. The most published academic journal was Psycho-Oncology. “Quality of life”, “breast self-examination”, and “longitudinal study”, etc. have emerged as research hotspots in recent years. The burst time of keywords including “cancer screening”, “anxiety”, “depression”, and “lung cancer”, have continued today. Conclusion: The field of cancer and illness representation is in the stage of vigorous development and has a bright prospect. International transboundary cooperation among countries, institutions, and authors should be strengthened in the future. The relationship between illness representation and QOL, influencing factors, and online interventions on illness representation were the major themes over the past 21 years. The complex interrelationship between psychological distress and illness representation, as well as promotion strategies for lung cancer screening in the general population, maybe the emerging trends of research.