{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]],"date-time":"2026-06-11T05:01:16Z","timestamp":1781154076899,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]],"date-time":"2026-06-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781136000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Oncol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Bahrain reports the highest age-standardized cancer incidence among Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, but its oncology research output has not been comprehensively mapped. We profiled four decades of Bahrain-linked cancer publications to describe growth, contributors, collaboration, impact, and gaps.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We searched Scopus and PubMed from inception to December 2024 using cancer-related terms combined with \u201cBahrain\u201d. We included articles, reviews, editorials, letters, conference papers, and book chapters. After deduplication, screening, and manual supplementation, 502 publications were analyzed by year, document type, journal quartile, SCImago Journal Rank (SJR), Bahraini authorship and first-author affiliation, geographic scope, study design, citations, and cancer site grouped using the ICD-O (3rd edition).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The first indexed paper appeared in 1981. Output was low until 2010, then increased sharply; 77.7% of publications appeared from 2011 to 2024, peaking at 66 papers in 2024. Articles accounted for 69.3% of the outputs, and reviews accounted for 21.7%, with greater diversity after 2010. The Bahrain Medical Bulletin was the most common outlet (20.2%). Salmaniya Medical Complex led in first-author output, followed by Arabian Gulf University and King Hamad University Hospital. Bahraini first authorship was observed in 66.7% of papers, and most studies were conducted exclusively in Bahrain (65.3%), although the proportion of global collaborations increased to 17.0% from 2021 to 2024. Descriptive designs predominated (57%, including 25.5% case reports), whereas analytic studies were uncommon (4.3%). Breast cancer was the most studied site-specific cancer (23.3%), followed by digestive organ cancers (11.4%); 27.1% of the papers addressed \u201cunspecified\u201d cancer. Respiratory and intrathoracic cancers remain persistently underrepresented despite a high mortality burden. Journal quality improved after 2010, reflected by increasing Q1\/Q2 representation and higher SJR distributions. The citation peaks from 2014 to 2018 were driven by highly cited multinational collaborative publications.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Bahrain\u2019s oncology research output has increased more than 30-fold over four decades, with expanding institutional participation and increasing international collaboration. Persistent reliance on descriptive designs and gaps in high-burden cancers\u2014especially lung cancer\u2014highlights priorities for capacity building, targeted funding, and a nationally aligned oncology research agenda for policy action.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fonc.2026.1829889","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,11]],"date-time":"2026-06-11T04:38:04Z","timestamp":1781152684000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Oncology research in the kingdom of Bahrain: a four-decade bibliometric evolution"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Randah R.","family":"Hamadeh","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Arabian Gulf University","place":["Manama, 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