Five decades of cancer research in Jordan: A thematic mapping of clinical, translational, and emerging technological trends (1974–2024)

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Background and Aim: Cancer represents a major public health challenge in Jordan and remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Over the past five decades, Jordan has developed a substantial body of cancer-related research spanning clinical, epidemiological, translational, and technological domains. However, the thematic evolution and intellectual structure of this research landscape have not been comprehensively characterized. This study aimed to map the thematic organization, temporal evolution, and citation impact of cancer research conducted in Jordan between 1974 and 2024. Materials and Methods: A thematic mapping study was performed using the Scopus database. Peer-reviewed English-language journal articles published between January 1974 and December 2024 and involving at least one Jordanian institutional affiliation were retrieved. After manual screening and removal of irrelevant records, eligible publications were exported and analyzed using VOSviewer version 1.6.20. Author-keyword co-occurrence analysis was conducted to identify major research themes. Temporal and normalized citation overlay visualizations were generated to evaluate thematic development and scholarly influence over time. A custom thesaurus file was applied to standardize keyword variations and improve clustering accuracy. Results: Of 5,073 retrieved records, 4,567 met the inclusion criteria. Analysis identified 33 high-frequency keywords grouped into five major thematic clusters. These included: (i) epidemiology, diagnostics, and computational approaches in major cancers; (ii) clinical management, prognosis, survival outcomes, and pediatric oncology; (iii) experimental therapeutics, cytotoxicity screening, apoptosis, molecular docking, and quantitative structure–activity relationship studies; (iv) palliative care and quality-of-life research; and (v) nanotechnology-based drug delivery and targeted therapeutics. Temporal overlay analysis demonstrated a progressive shift from predominantly clinical and epidemiological investigations toward translational, computational, and nanomedicine-oriented research. Citation analysis showed that established clinical themes maintained strong scholarly influence, whereas emerging areas such as machine learning, molecular modeling, and nanotechnology exhibited rapid growth and increasing scientific attention. The integration of experimental models, computational tools, and translational approaches highlighted the maturation of Jordan’s oncology research ecosystem. Conclusion: Cancer research in Jordan has evolved from a strong clinical and epidemiological foundation into an increasingly interdisciplinary and technology-driven field. The growing integration of artificial intelligence, molecular research, nanotechnology, and translational oncology reflects enhanced research capacity and alignment with global scientific priorities. These findings provide valuable evidence for future research planning, capacity building, policy development, and collaborative initiatives aimed at advancing cancer control and oncology innovation. Keywords: artificial intelligence, bibliometric analysis, cancer research, Jordan, nanomedicine, oncology, thematic mapping, translational research.

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