Mapping the landscape of rural cancer research: a global bibliometric analysis

Purpose: Rural communities frequently experience inequalities in cancer care compared to urban counterparts. Despite growing academic interest, there has been no global bibliometric analysis of rural cancer publications. Increasingly, global policies focus on place-based health inequalities; it is critical to understand the current state and emerging trends of rural cancer research. This analysis focuses on publication trends, including authors, citations, geography, collaboration (extent and patterns) and target journals.

Methods: Web of Science and Scopus were searched from inception to 25th February 2025. Bibliometric methodology examined citation counts, authorship and publication sources. Results were converted into bibliographic data frames using the bibliometrix R package. All analysis and visual illustrations were in R 4.4.2.

Results: Fifteen thousand seven hundred and twenty two documents were analysed (mean age, 10.6 years; average, 25.5 citations per document (2.2 per year)). Annual publication growth was 4.6%, with a marked increase in rural cancer research outputs since 2006. Research output was concentrated in a small number of high-income countries and institutions, but citation analysis showed that some smaller countries produced high-impact work. Rural cancer research activity is shaped by national, regional and geopolitical collaborations. Thematic gaps were identified in early diagnosis. Cancer-specific journals have most outputs, with rural health and public health journals also contributing to the dissemination of rural cancer research.

Conclusion: Rural cancer research is expanding but is geographically uneven. There is a need for increased investment in underrepresented regions and broader subject-specific coverage that is guided by intersectional and place-based approaches.