Mapping the evidence landscape of the oral microbiome-cancer relationship: insights from the 100 most-cited papers.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze the 100 most-cited papers investigating the relationship between the oral microbiome and cancer. METHODS: A qualitative and quantitative bibliometric study was conducted to evaluate the 100 most-cited papers on the relationship between cancer and the oral microbiome. The search strategy was applied in the Scopus database. Data related to the articles, authors, and study characteristics were extracted. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were performed. RESULTS: From the 1,033 records retrieved, the 100 most-cited papers in the field were ranked and selected. The most-cited article had accumulated 759 citations. The papers were published between 1998 and 2022; authors from North America and Asia were the most frequent contributors, and reviews were the most common study design. Oral, colorectal, esophageal, and pancreatic cancers were the most frequently investigated cancer sites. Funding was less frequently reported in review articles (OR=0.28; p=0.041) and in papers from Europe (OR=0.14; p<0.001), whereas funding support increased over time (OR=1.05; p=0.037). CONCLUSION: The most-cited literature indicates substantial research interest in the relationship between cancer and the oral microbiome. The most-cited papers show that this association has been investigated mainly in oral cancer, although associations with cancers at other sites have also been reported. Financial support and international collaboration may help broaden research on this topic.