ArticleRadiation oncology journal2026
Temporal trends and evolution of photon and proton radiotherapy research.
Article in Radiation oncology journal, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposePhoton therapy has been and remains the predominant external beam radiotherapy treatment modality, but the number of proton therapy facilities and proton research publications has increased considerably in the past decade. We aimed to quantify and compare the growth of research output in photon and proton radiotherapy over time. MATERIALS AND
methodsA bibliometric analysis was conducted of all peer-reviewed publications reporting on adult patients with cancer who received photon or proton radiotherapy. Each article was classified by radiotherapy type (photon and proton) and study design (commentary/editorial, dosimetry studies, technical/physics studies, case reports/series, cohort studies, phase I/II trials, phase III trials, reviews/meta-analyses, and protocols). Annual publication counts from 1940-2025 were plotted for overall and subgroup trends.
resultsA total of 19,961 articles were published from 1940 to 2025. Of these, 53% studied photon radiotherapy, and 47% studied proton radiotherapy. The overall literature has expanded exponentially since the 1990s. Photon publications historically predominated, but proton-related research accelerated rapidly after 2015. Subgroup analyses revealed consistent proton research growth across study types.
conclusionProton radiotherapy research has expanded rapidly over the past decade. It is important that research in both modalities continues to progress in parallel to ensure that progress in radiation oncology remains clinically meaningful for all patients and that more knowledge is available to optimize patient selection for each treatment approach.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.