Trends in Infertility and Cancer Research in India: A 50-year Bibliometric Analysis

A BSTRACT Background: Long-term infertility treatment may increase cancer risk estimates because infertility drugs significantly contribute to cancer development. There is no bibliometric analysis that demonstrates trends for both infertility and cancer. This study examines trends in cancer and infertility research in India over the past five decades. The objective of the study was to identify new areas of infertility and cancer research as well as to analyze current infertility and cancer research trends. Methods: The articles were extracted from the Scopus website for the past five decades, which contains keywords like cancer and infertility in the title and abstract. The data were visually analyzed by employing Vos Viewer software and Microsoft Excel software. Results: After screening titles and abstracts, a total of 965 publications were included for bibliometric analysis. The bibliometric analysis showed a huge change in cancer and infertility research over the past 50 years. Research on cancer has fewer publications than research on infertility. The top 20 journals were mostly reproductive health journals and had few cancer journals. Conclusion: A rising trend in publications was observed in male infertility, azoospermia, and assisted reproductive technology. The majority of research articles were in the fields of cancer, genetics, traditional medicine, and ethnomedicine.