Trends in Breast Cancer Epigenetics Research from 1993 to 2023: A Bibliometric Analysis

Breast cancer is a significant health problem. Epigenetic alterations that influence gene expression were implicated in breast cancer pathogenesis. Bibliometric analysis can be done to evaluate the existing literature and identify gaps and emerging trends. This bibliometric analysis aims to provide an overview of the current landscape of global breast cancer epigenetics research, identify existing networks of countries and authors’ keywords, and assess the association of a country’s socioeconomic indicators with its scientific productivity. A literature search was performed on SCOPUS for existing original articles published from 1993 to 2023. The metadata available from these articles was evaluated using Bibliometrix, and VOSViewer 1.6.20 was used for the network and overlay visualizations. Spearman's correlation analysis of country-specific characteristics with bibliometric indices was performed in GraphPad Prism, and a p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. There are 688 publications in this field with 31,215 citations. The USA is the central country for scientific productivity regarding publications, citations, funding, affiliations, and collaborations. The trend in breast cancer epigenetics research has evolved from cancer-related genes to molecular mechanisms of epigenetic alterations to the development of therapeutics such as epigenetic drugs. The only statistically significant correlation is between research collaborations and total citations (r = 0.649, p = 0.049) and h-index (r = 0.646, p = 0.049). This study provided substantial evidence for breast cancer epigenetics research progress regarding productivity, collaborations, and citations. Administrators and policymakers can use these results for evidence-based decision-making on implementing current breast cancer epigenetics programs worldwide and for better resource allocation of these programs to augment the field toward therapeutics development.