Identification of Publication Characteristics and Research Trends in the Management of Gallbladder Cancer

BackgroundTo date, no comprehensive analysis of gallbladder cancer (GBC) management has been reported. We aimed to identify the publication characteristics and research trends in managing GBC over the past three decades.MethodsWe selected the 100 most cited articles and performed a bibliometric analysis to summarize the publication characteristics, explore research hotspots, and identify research trends in the management of GBC.ResultsThe total citations of the included articles ranged from 123 to 1822. Period II (2001–2010) yielded the highest number of included articles, whereas the lowest was in Period III (2011–2020). The United States and Japan published the most papers, in which the Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center and Nagoya University were the leading institutions, respectively. The most influential authors were Blumgart LH and Fong YM from the United States. Cooperation among countries, institutions, and authors was weak. The Annals of Surgery contributed the most articles with the highest number of total citations. The most researched topic was surgery, followed by systemic therapy and adjuvant therapy. Since Period I, the percentage of surgery-related publications continuously decreased (Periods II and III versus Period I, both p < 0.001), with a concomitant increase in those of adjuvant therapy (Period III versus Period I, p = 0.004) and systemic therapy (Period II versus Period I, p = 0.004; Period III versus Period I, p = 0.002).ConclusionsSurgery remains the preferred treatment, while there is a tendency toward adjuvant and systemic therapy in GBC management. An increase in local and international collaboration for managing GBC is required.