ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Head and Neck Cancer
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1604136
Artificial Intelligence in Head and Neck Cancer: A Bibliometric Analysis of Research Landscape, Emerging Trends, and Challenges
Provisionally accepted
- 1Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, China
- 2Hunan Cancer Hospital, Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China
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Background: Head and neck cancer is the seventh most common cancer worldwide.As an aggressive malignancy, it is characterized by high metastasis rates, complex anatomy, challenging treatments, high recurrence rates, and significant disability.Over the past decade, advancements in big data, AI algorithms, and hardware have enabled artificial intelligence to make substantial contributions to addressing medical challenges in oncology, including head and neck cancer. The era of AI-driven head and neck tumor management may soon arrive. Despite significant attention, there has been a lack of quantitative literature-based studies in this field.Objective: This study aims to delineate the knowledge structure, hotspots, and trends in AI applications for head and neck cancers since 1995 through bibliometric analysis.We conducted a comprehensive literature search via the Web of Science, utilizing tools such as CiteSpace, ArcGIS, and VOSviewer for analysis, with a focus on key countries, institutions, authors, and emerging topics.We analyzed 362 papers authored by 235 researchers from 189 institutions across 55 countries, with China leading in publication output. Radiotherapy and Oncology was the most influential journal. Bur, Andres M was the pioneering author, and the University of Texas System ranked as the top publishing institution. Currently, the most significant keywords include "target volumes," "prognosis," "algorithm," "survival," "lesions," and "automatic diagnosis." Additionally, we identified 12 keyword clusters in the field, with the latest five clusters labeled as "automatic diagnosis", "explainable artificial intelligence", "guidelines", "research trends", and "natural intelligence".This article provides a concise overview of the current landscape and emerging trends in AI applications for head and neck cancer research, offering insights and guiding future studies in this evolving field.
Keywords: head and neck cancer, artificial intelligence, deep learning, Bibliometric, tumor
Received: 01 Apr 2025; Accepted: 08 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Zhang, Tan and Zhou. 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) or licensor 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: Bo Zhou, Hunan Cancer Hospital, Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, 410013, Hunan Province, China
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.