Bibliometric Analysis of RNA-seq Technology in Liver Cancer Research

Background In recent years, the extensive application of transcriptome sequencing technology in the field of liver cancer has provided assistance in genomic and biological studies of liver cancer. Summarizing and analyzing the literature on RNA-seq applied to liver cancer research in the last two decades can help to provide researchers with a comprehensive understanding of the research hotspots and latest progress in this field, and provide reference for subsequent research. Objective To evaluate the application of RNA-seq in various aspects of liver cancer research, such as treatment, diagnosis, and pathogenesis as a whole by bibliometric analysis, so as to reveal the global distribution of research hotspots in the field of RNA-seq applied to liver cancer, and predict the development trend of this field in the future. Methods Web of Science database was searched for English literature related to the application of RNA-seq to liver cancer research from 2001 to 2022, and the number of publications was analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2016 software. CiteSpace software was used for visualization of authors, countries, institutions, and keywords. Results A total of 1 397 documents on the application of RNA-seq to liver cancer research were retrieved in the database, and the analysis results showed that the core group of authors in this field had been formed; China has the largest number of publications, but the research depth is slightly lacking, the United States has the second largest number of publications after China, but with the highest centrality (0.44) ; most of the institutions with a high publication volume are located in China, and most of the institutions with greater influence are located in the United States; the keyword analysis showed that the research hotspots in the field include the molecular mechanism, gene expression and molecular markers related to the occurrence and development of liver cancer. Conclusion The molecular mechanism of liver cancer development, biomarkers and therapeutic targets of the disease are the current research hotspots in this field, and clinical precision medicine may be a key research direction in the future.