AccScience Publishing / EJMO / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/EJMO025140090
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Unraveling trends and collaborative dynamics in RAS wild-type colorectal cancer research: A bibliometric analysis

Kexin Liu1 ,  Xiaoyu Huang1 ,  Ping Li1 ,  Ting Wang1* ,  Ting Sun1*
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1 Oncology Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China
EJMO, 025140090 https://doi.org/10.36922/EJMO025140090
Received: 6 April 2025 | Revised: 5 June 2025 | Accepted: 23 June 2025 | Published online: 18 July 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Objective: RAS wild-type (WT) is the most common genotype in colorectal cancer (CRC). In recent years, an increasing number of researchers have focused on the pathogenesis, clinical features, and treatment strategies of RAS WT CRC. This study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the current state of research in the field, including key research trends and intricate networks of collaborations.

Methods: Literature on RAS WT CRC was retrieved from the Web Of Science core collection (2009 – 2022). Using CiteSpace (v6.1.R6) and VOSviewer (v1.6.18), we analyzed 495 publications from 57 countries/regions, 368 institutions, and 426 authors.

Results: According to statistics, the country with the most publications on this topic is Italy (n = 118, 23.8%), followed by the United States (n = 105, 21.2%), Germany (n = 90, 18.2%), and China (n = 79, 16.0%). S. Stintzing (n = 26) has the highest number of publications, while E. Van Cutsem (n = 306) has the highest number of citations. Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico was the main publishing institution in this field, Clinical CRC was the most important publication journal, and Journal of Clinical Oncology was the most cited journal in the field (n = 442). Chemotherapy, first-line treatment, metastatic CRC, acquired resistance, cetuximab, and bevacizumab were among the popular keywords in the field of RAS WT CRC. The current frontier research topics in this field include “plus bevacizumab,” “elderly patient,” and “primary tumor.”

Conclusion: Over the past decade, research on RAS WT CRC has continued to grow, reflecting the sustained attention and investment of the academic community. Italy, Germany and the United States, which had the highest number of publications, were found to maintain close international collaborative networks. The current research landscape focuses on novel methods and applications of targeted drugs for treating RAS WT CRC, such as tailoring treatment regimens according to the location of the primary tumor and introducing targeted drugs.

Keywords
RAS wild-type
Colorectal cancer
Bibliometric analysis
VOSviewer
CiteSpace
Funding
This study was funded by Shanghai Cancer Prevention and Anti-Cancer Career Development Foundation.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Eurasian Journal of Medicine and Oncology, Electronic ISSN: 2587-196X Print ISSN: 2587-2400, Published by AccScience Publishing
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