Bibliometric visualization of hepatocellular carcinoma and metabolic syndrome research: trends and emerging areas

A growing body of research has highlighted the increasing relevance of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and metabolic syndrome (MetS). However, a comprehensive bibliometric visualization analysis on this topic remains lacking. In this study, we retrieved 310 related articles from the Web of Science Core Collection, spanning from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2023. Using VOS viewer and Cite Space software, we analyzed the relationships among authors, journals, institutions, countries, keywords, and citations. Between 2014 and 2023, there has been a steady increase in publications on HCC and MetS, with the United States and China being the leading contributors in terms of publication volume. The visualization analysis revealed that obesity, insulin resistance, MAFLD, and liver cirrhosis are emerging areas in the intersection of HCC and MetS. Additionally, the international community is increasingly adopting the disease diagnosis term MAFLD, which, compared to NAFLD, shows improved diagnostic performance for predicting both hepatic and extra-hepatic outcomes. Furthermore, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases are emerging as promising new research fields.