Abstract
Purpose:
This study aims to delineate the scientific advancements in proton therapy for glioma by analyzing the most frequently cited articles over the past 30 years.
Methods:
Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus were independently queried for articles on proton therapy for glioma published between 1997 and 2025. Only items present in both databases were retained for downstream bibliometric analyses. The 100 most-cited articles from this intersection set were extracted for in-depth mapping of countries/regions, institutions, authors, journals, references and keywords. Data processing and visualisation were carried out with CiteSpace, VOSviewer, R-bibliometrix and the online bibliometric platform.
Results:
The United States showcased its strong global leadership in this field, leading in publication output and maintaining extensive collaborative networks with multiple countries. Massachusetts General Hospital emerged as the most prolific institution with 29 papers. Tarbell NJ, Macdonald SM, and Yock TI ranked as the top three authors with 15, 15, and 13 papers, respectively. The analysis also revealed emerging research directions such as “Monte-carlo simulations,” “childhood-cancer survivor,” “cognitive function,” “subventricular zone,” and “radiation necrosis,” which warrant increased attention.
Conclusion:
This bibliometric analysis represents the first systematic identification of the most influential 100 articles on glioma proton therapy. There is a pressing need to further enhance the clinical efficacy of glioma proton therapy while improving safety and reducing treatment costs, to ultimately bring more benefits to patients.
1 Introduction
Gliomas, invasive primary central nervous system tumors with high recurrence rates, challenge oncological treatment (1). Traditional methods like surgery, chemotherapy, and photon radiation therapy show limited efficacy, particularly for high-grade gliomas such as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) (2, 3). In this context, proton therapy has emerged as a promising radiotherapeutic approach (4, 5). Its unique physical properties, characterized by the Bragg peak phenomenon, allow for precise tumor targeting while sparing surrounding normal brain tissue from excessive radiation exposure (6). This is of paramount importance in the management of gliomas, where the close proximity of critical neurological structures necessitates a delicate balance between tumor control and functional preservation (7). Preclinical and early clinical studies have indicated that proton therapy may offer comparable or superior tumor control rates with a more favorable toxicity profile compared to conventional photon-based radiotherapy (8).
Bibliometrics, an increasingly valuable tool in scientific research evaluation, provides a quantitative and qualitative analysis of academic literature (9, 10). Through sophisticated analytical techniques, bibliometric analysis can uncover the intellectual structure of a field, identify key research clusters, and map the evolution of scientific knowledge over time (11). Hossain et al. (12) conducted a bibliometric analysis to map the research landscape of brain tumor classification using machine learning. Song et al. (13) reported a bibliometric analysis of global research on proton radiotherapy. Despite the rapid expansion of studies focusing on proton therapy for gliomas, no bibliometric analysis specifically targeting gliomas has been published to date.
This is the first comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the literature on proton therapy for gliomas. By elucidating the existing knowledge gaps and highlighting underexplored areas, this analysis can serve as a strategic guide for researchers, clinicians, and policymakers alike, fostering more targeted and efficient allocation of research resources and ultimately advancing the clinical application of proton therapy for gliomas.
2 Materials and methods
2.1 Dataset selection
The dataset was built from the intersection of two large-scale citation databases—Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) and Scopus. On 25 December 2025, identical searches were run in both databases to retrieve records published between 1997 and 2025 whose Title (TI), Abstract (AB) or Author Keywords (AK) contained “proton therapy” AND “glioma” (full query in Supplementary File). Only articles are considered. After deduplication against DOI, title, and abstract using Note Expression software, only articles indexed in both databases were retained. No language restriction was applied. The 100 most-cited articles from this intersection set were downloaded for subsequent bibliometric analyses. This study was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 statement. The TITAN Guideline 2025 was followed to report any AI-assisted steps (14).
2.2 Data visualization and analysis
VOSviewer (version 1.6.16) was utilized to generate visualizations of co-authorship networks (9). In the VOSviewer map, the connections between nodes reflect the relationships between authors or institutions, quantified by total link strength. In the institution collaboration analysis, the normalization method is association strengthen, and the largest set of connected items is displayed. Co-citation analysis of references was conducted using CiteSpace (version 6.3.1) (15). The parameters were set as follows: 2 years per slice, selection criteria (top 50 most cited or frequent items from each slice; g-index: k = 15), and pruning (pathfinder). Additional details are provided in the relevant visualization maps. Keyword thematic maps were created using the “bibliometrix” package in R 4.2.0. An online bibliometric analysis platform1 was used to illustrate cooperation relationships between countries/regions. Global publication and citation trends were analyzed using Microsoft Excel.
3 Results
3.1 Trend of publications and citations
Between 1997 and 2025, WoSCC and Scopus indexed 655 and 1,309 papers on proton therapy for glioma, respectively (Figure 1). After deduplication and removal of irrelevant records, 307 articles were retained that are jointly covered by both databases. The top 100 most cited articles are listed in the Supplementary Table. These 100 articles garnered between 34 and 301 citations each. Notably, Miralbell et al. (16) stands out with over 300 citations for their work on reducing radiation-induced secondary cancers in pediatric tumors using proton beams. In terms of average annual citations, Kahalley et al. (17) holds the highest with 28.3 citations per year for their study on superior intellectual outcomes in pediatric medulloblastoma patients treated with proton radiotherapy compared to photon radiotherapy.
Figure 1
In Figure 2A, the publication and citation trends for glioma proton therapy from 1997 to 2025 are illustrated. Research in this field has gradually increased over time, with a notable surge in recent years. The year 2024 stands out as the most productive and impactful, witnessing the highest number of publications and citations.
Figure 2
3.2 Countries/regions and institutions analysis
Figure 2C displays the top 10 countries by the number of publications. The USA leads with 66 articles, significantly more than Germany (17) and Switzerland (10). While the USA has the highest total citations (5,548), Switzerland has the highest average citations per article (Figure 2B). The international collaboration among countries/regions is shown in Figure 2D. This shows that the USA dominance in quantity and overall impact, with Switzerland excelling in per-article influence.
Over 160 institutions contributed to these highly cited papers. Massachusetts General Hospital ranked first with 29 articles and 2,457 citations, followed by Harvard University and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, which contributed 16 and 13 publications, respectively, (Table 1). In the institutional collaboration network, Massachusetts General Hospital, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Harvard University, and the German Cancer Research Center exhibited the closest collaborative ties (Figure 3).
Table 1
| Rank | Institutions | Country | Articles | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Massachusetts General Hospital | USA | 29 | 2,457 |
| 2 | Harvard University | USA | 16 | 1,294 |
| 3 | The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center | USA | 13 | 1,118 |
| 4 | The German Cancer Research Center | Germany | 8 | 461 |
| 5 | Paul Scherrer Institute | Switzerland | 7 | 842 |
| 6 | Loma Linda University | USA | 6 | 492 |
| 7 | Baylor College of Medicine | USA | 6 | 481 |
| 8 | Paris Saclay University | France | 5 | 425 |
| 9 | University of Florida | USA | 5 | 387 |
| 10 | PSL University | France | 5 | 286 |
The top 10 institutions among the top 100 articles.
Figure 3
3.3 Authors
Six hundred and thirty authors contributed to the top 100 highly cited articles on glioma proton therapy. Table 2 lists the top 10 most productive authors. Tarbell NJ, Macdonald SM and Yock TI rank as the top three authors, having published 15, 15, and 13 articles, respectively. Interestingly, while Pulsifer MB from Massachusetts General Hospital has only five articles, these works have achieved the highest citations per article at 102.4, signaling a substantial impact. In terms of co-authorship, as shown in Figure 4, Yeap BY, MacDonald SM, Yock TI, and Paganetti H are positioned at the center of the co-authorship network, boasting the greatest total link strength. These scholars are trailblazers and highly respected authorities in their domain, playing a pivotal role in advancing global proton therapy for glioma research. However, further studies are needed to enhance their expertise in this field.
Table 2
| Rank | Author | Articles | Citations | Citations per article | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tarbell, Nancy J. | 15 | 1,310 | 87.3 | USA |
| 2 | Macdonald, Shannon M. | 15 | 1,299 | 86.6 | USA |
| 3 | Yock, Torunn I. | 13 | 1,147 | 88.2 | USA |
| 4 | Paganetti, Harald | 11 | 783 | 71.2 | USA |
| 5 | Yeap, Beow Y. | 10 | 1,020 | 102 | USA |
| 6 | Giantsoudi, Drosoula | 6 | 466 | 77.7 | USA |
| 7 | Pulsifer, Margaret B. | 5 | 512 | 102.4 | USA |
| 8 | Ebb, David | 5 | 417 | 83.4 | USA |
| 9 | Indelicato, Daniel J. | 5 | 387 | 77.4 | USA |
| 10 | Bradley, Julie A. | 5 | 387 | 77.4 | USA |
The top 10 authors in the field of glioma proton therapy.
Figure 4
3.4 Contributions of journals
A total of 45 academic journals published top 100 highly cited papers in this research field. There were 61 articles published on the top 10 productive journals (Table 3). International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biologyphysics published the most papers (n = 33, IF 2024 = 6.5), followed by Radiotherapy and Oncology (n = 9, IF 2024 = 5.3) and Acta Oncologica (n = 8, IF 2024 = 2.2).
Table 3
| Rank | Journal | Article | Citation | Citation per article | IF 2024 | JCR 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biologyphysics | 33 | 2,763 | 83.7 | 6.5 | Q1 |
| 2 | Radiotherapy and Oncology | 9 | 674 | 74.9 | 5.3 | Q1 |
| 3 | Acta Oncologica | 8 | 617 | 77.1 | 2.2 | Q3 |
| 4 | Neuro Oncology | 7 | 539 | 77 | 13.4 | Q1 |
| 5 | Cancer | 6 | 412 | 68.7 | 5.1 | Q1 |
| 6 | Strahlentherapie Undonkologie | 5 | 339 | 67.8 | 2.5 | Q2 |
| 7 | Physics In Medicine Andbiology | 6 | 410 | 68.3 | 3.4 | Q1 |
| 8 | Journal of Neurooncology | 4 | 187 | 46.8 | 3.1 | Q2 |
| 9 | Radiation Oncology | 4 | 224 | 56 | 3.2 | Q1 |
| 10 | Scientific Reports | 4 | 297 | 74.3 | 3.9 | Q1 |
The distribution of top 10 journals.
IF, Impact Factor. JCR, Journal Citation Reports.
3.5 Co-cited references
Reference co-citation analysis was employed to uncover the predominant research themes in glioma proton therapy. As shown in Figure 5, nodes symbolize cited references. The modularity Q value of 0.9045 and the mean Silhouette S value of 0.9562 indicate impressive clustering effect. The analysis yielded eight distinct clusters. In this network, betweenness centrality, marked in purple, was used to evaluate the importance of nodes. This measure reveals the role of references in connecting different parts of the network, helping to identify key studies that have significantly shaped the field’s research landscape.
Figure 5
3.6 Thematic map of keywords analysis
The thematic map of keywords is used to illustrate the connections between different themes and the intensity of these connections within a theme, thereby highlighting their significance and progression in the field of glioma proton therapy. Centrality (horizontal axis) reflects a theme’s relevance to other themes, with higher centrality indicating greater significance in the research area. Density (vertical axis) reflects the strength of the relationship among keywords within a theme, with higher density suggesting a more developed or mature concept. Examples of emerging or declining themes include “monte-carlo simulations,” “childhood-cancer survivor,” “cognitive function,” “subventricular zone,” and “radiation necrosis” (Figure 6). The quantitative indicators were concluded in the Supplementary Table 1. By understanding the landscape of existing research, scholars can strategically allocate research resources and identify gaps where further investigation is needed.
Figure 6
4 Discussion
Significant studies with groundbreaking contributions are usually the most cited in a field. Bibliometric analysis offers an intuitive way to grasp research progress, and highly cited papers are highly valuable for future research. This study presents an overview of glioma proton therapy based on the top 100 most cited articles, emphasizing hotspots and research trends to guide future studies.
Globally, the USA holds a predominant position in this research domain, boasting the majority of highly cited articles (n = 66). All of the top 10 most productive authors are affiliated with American institutions, and the USA engages in the most frequent collaborations with other countries/regions. Notably, scholars Tarbell NJ and Macdonald SM from Massachusetts General Hospital have maintained a close collaborative relationship, ranking first and second with 15 highly cited documents each. Their research primarily centers on proton therapy for pediatric malignancies, including medulloblastoma, pediatric craniopharyngioma, and Ewing’s sarcoma (18–20). They emphasize the clinical efficacy of proton therapy and its late side effects in pediatric patients, such as whether craniospinal proton radiotherapy induces growth retardation (21). Enhancing the efficacy of proton therapy while reducing its impact on neurological function remains a pivotal research objective. Keywords are used to understand how a field has developed. From the thematic map (Figure 6), we can predict that “monte-carlo simulations,” “childhood-cancer survivor,” “cognitive function,” “subventricular zone” and “radiation necrosis” as the emerging research directions should be given more consideration.
Radiation necrosis, defined as the irreversible damage and death of healthy tissue induced by radiotherapy, represents a long-term CNS complication that can emerge months or even years post-treatment (22). Monte Carlo simulations offer a promising solution by enabling more precise predictions of proton beam behavior within the human body (23). This facilitates the optimized design of complex intensity-modulated fields, enhances the precision of treatment planning, and reduces the radiation dose to surrounding healthy tissues. Moreover, Monte Carlo simulations can integrate various factors, including proton beam uncertainties and the heterogeneous anatomy and tissue density of patients, thereby minimizing uncertainties during treatment and improving its safety and reliability (24). By refining the radiation strategy for lesions, the risk of radiation necrosis can be mitigated. Multi-center randomized controlled trials should be conducted to validate whether optimized proton treatment plans using Monte Carlo simulations can significantly reduce the incidence of radiation necrosis.
The subventricular zone (SVZ) is a region in the brain with the highest concentration of neural stem cell (NSC) (25). Molecular mechanisms involving cytoskeletal proteins, telomerase, tumor suppressor proteins, transcription factors, and growth factors within NSC of the SVZ can drive the development of GBM (26). While radiotherapy targeting this region may prevent the progression of primary and recurrent GBM, it is not without risk (27). Irradiation of larger brain volumes can lead to significant adverse reactions (28). Dose-escalation trials should be designed to explore the feasibility of moderate irradiation to this region for preventing glioma recurrence while preserving neural cells.
This study has certain limitations. Despite being the most commonly used for analyzing highly cited literatures in a specific field, the citation-based selection might have omitted some recent and impactful studies, potentially missing out on some emerging trends. We encourage readers to consider this when interpreting our findings and to stay informed of the latest findings in the field.
5 Conclusion
Proton therapy has shown significant potential in the treatment of glioma, yet several challenges and uncertainties remain in its application. Unlike photon therapy, which is more established, proton therapy for glioma requires further advancement and optimization to fully realize its benefits. Pediatric oncology has already witnessed substantial advantages from proton therapy, mainly attributed to its lesser impact on children’s developing organs. Looking to the future, ongoing technical innovations and expanded clinical applications are expected to lower treatment costs and reduce uncertainties.
Statements
Data availability statement
The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding authors.
Author contributions
ML: Writing – original draft, Data curation, Software. ZL: Writing – original draft, Methodology. QL: Writing – review & editing, Funding acquisition, Validation. YZ: Formal analysis, Conceptualization, Writing – original draft. NH: Writing – review & editing, Investigation. SH: Writing – review & editing, Formal analysis.
Funding
The author(s) declared that financial support was received for this work and/or its publication. This study is supported by Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province of China (2025AFD798).
Conflict of interest
The author(s) declared that this work was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Generative AI statement
The author(s) declared that Generative AI was used in the creation of this manuscript. During the preparation of this work the authors used Moonshot AI to provide language suggestions. After using this tool, the authors reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the content of the publication.
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Supplementary material
The Supplementary material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2026.1781410/full#supplementary-material
Footnotes
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Summary
Keywords
bibliometric analysis, CiteSpace, glioma, proton therapy, R software, VOSviewer
Citation
Liu M, Lv Z, Li Q, Zhou Y, Huang N and Hu S (2026) Tracing scientific progress: thematic shifts and emerging directions in proton therapy for glioma based on top-cited papers. Front. Neurol. 17:1781410. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2026.1781410
Received
05 January 2026
Revised
12 February 2026
Accepted
03 March 2026
Published
27 March 2026
Volume
17 - 2026
Edited by
Pilar Marcos, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Reviewed by
Maciej Harat, Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology, Poland
Hubin Duan, First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, China
Updates
Copyright
© 2026 Liu, Lv, Li, Zhou, Huang and Hu.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Ning Huang, huang21lin@163.com; Yan Zhou, 2023xh0049@hust.edu.cn; Shunan Hu, hushunansw@sina.com
† These authors have contributed equally to this work
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.