Publishing trends

Every object in OnCo has a literature query. Once a week we ask Europe PMC how many papers matched it in each year and in the last twelve months, then rank topics by how fast they are growing. This is the pulse of research effort, not of results: a surge in papers is a surge in attention.

Snapshot: 2026-09-25Objects tracked: 3,683Source: Europe PMC REST APIRefreshed weekly by GitHub Actions

Rising fastest, all kinds

Papers in the last 12 months against the 12 months before, for topics with at least 20 prior papers so a small base cannot fake a surge.

30 topics

	Topic
1	In vivo CAR-T	technology	108	23	+370%	Growing
2	Pathology & radiology foundation models	technology	161	35	+360%	Growing
3	Platinum + etoposide (EP / CE)	drug	82	35	+134%	Growing
4	Claudin 6	target	45	21	+114%	Growing
5	Group 3 and group 4 medulloblastoma (non-WNT/non-SHH)	cancer	55	26	+112%	Growing
6	STAG2	target	86	42	+105%	Growing
7	TROP2	target	306	152	+101%	Growing
8	Spatial transcriptomics	technology	2,763	1,395	+98%	Growing
9	Disitamab vedotin	drug	95	48	+98%	Growing
10	Talquetamab	drug	93	47	+98%	Growing
11	SLC6A4	target	39	20	+95%	Growing
12	Zolbetuximab	drug	98	51	+92%	Growing
13	AI trial matching & clinical decision support	technology	904	473	+91%	Growing
14	Secondary and therapy-related acute myeloid leukaemia	cancer	101	53	+91%	Growing
15	Elranatamab	drug	87	46	+89%	Growing
16	Polatuzumab vedotin	drug	102	54	+89%	Growing
17	Gemcitabine + cisplatin	drug	181	100	+81%	Growing
18	Penpulimab	drug	36	20	+80%	Growing
19	HLA-C	target	113	64	+77%	Growing
20	Serplulimab	drug	51	29	+76%	Growing
21	Armoured, logic-gated & next-gen CARs	technology	65	37	+76%	Growing
22	Digital pathology & AI	technology	451	261	+73%	Growing
23	Patient-derived organoids	technology	1,071	621	+72%	Growing
24	Advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma	cancer	86	50	+72%	Growing
25	Envafolimab	drug	34	20	+70%	Growing
26	Foresight (generative EHR model)	technology	39	23	+70%	Growing
27	PLAG1	target	54	32	+69%	Growing
28	Lutetium-177 vipivotide tetraxetan	drug	72	43	+67%	Growing
29	Site-specific conjugation & linker chemistry	technology	168	101	+66%	Growing
30	Ceralasertib	drug	48	29	+66%	Growing

Technologies

15 topics

	Topic	Kind
1	Pathology & radiology foundation models	technology	161	35	+360%	Growing
2	Spatial transcriptomics	technology	2,763	1,395	+98%	Growing
3	AI trial matching & clinical decision support	technology	904	473	+91%	Growing
4	Armoured, logic-gated & next-gen CARs	technology	65	37	+76%	Growing
5	Digital pathology & AI	technology	451	261	+73%	Growing
6	Patient-derived organoids	technology	1,071	621	+72%	Growing
7	Site-specific conjugation & linker chemistry	technology	168	101	+66%	Growing
8	Menin inhibitors	technology	75	46	+63%	Growing
9	CellSearch circulating tumour cell count	technology	58	36	+61%	Growing
10	Skin cancer screening (visual skin examination)	technology	53	33	+61%	Growing
11	AI-driven drug & target discovery	technology	218	139	+57%	Growing
12	STING & innate immune agonists	technology	1,409	931	+51%	Growing
13	Intravesical therapy (BCG, chemotherapy, devices, gene and viral therapy)	technology	84	56	+50%	Growing
14	MRD / molecular residual disease testing	technology	1,149	770	+49%	Growing
15	AlphaFold 3	technology	67	45	+49%	Growing

Products

15 topics

	Topic	Kind
1	Vepdegestrant	drug	40	16	+150%	Growing
2	Platinum + etoposide (EP / CE)	drug	82	35	+134%	Growing
3	Signatera	drug	31	15	+107%	Growing
4	Disitamab vedotin	drug	95	48	+98%	Growing
5	Talquetamab	drug	93	47	+98%	Growing
6	Adebrelimab	drug	31	16	+94%	Growing
7	Zolbetuximab	drug	98	51	+92%	Growing
8	Elranatamab	drug	87	46	+89%	Growing
9	Polatuzumab vedotin	drug	102	54	+89%	Growing
10	Futibatinib	drug	30	16	+88%	Growing
11	Gemcitabine + cisplatin	drug	181	100	+81%	Growing
12	Penpulimab	drug	36	20	+80%	Growing
13	Tafasitamab	drug	34	19	+79%	Growing
14	Serplulimab	drug	51	29	+76%	Growing
15	Eflornithine (DFMO)	drug	33	19	+74%	Growing

Targets

15 topics

	Topic	Kind
1	Claudin 6	target	45	21	+114%	Growing
2	STAG2	target	86	42	+105%	Growing
3	TROP2	target	306	152	+101%	Growing
4	SLC6A4	target	39	20	+95%	Growing
5	HLA-C	target	113	64	+77%	Growing
6	PLAG1	target	54	32	+69%	Growing
7	Nectin-4	target	206	125	+65%	Growing
8	RAD21	target	64	39	+64%	Growing
9	CHD4	target	41	25	+64%	Growing
10	PAX7	target	72	44	+64%	Growing
11	SCN10A	target	65	40	+63%	Growing
12	B7-H4 (VTCN1)	target	68	42	+62%	Growing
13	BAP1	target	307	190	+62%	Growing
14	CYLD	target	63	39	+62%	Growing
15	PDCD4	target	61	38	+61%	Growing

Cancers

15 topics

	Topic	Kind
1	High-risk neuroblastoma	cancer	231	155	+49%	Growing
2	Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD)	cancer	199	138	+44%	Growing
3	EGFR-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer	cancer	188	131	+44%	Growing
4	Essential thrombocythaemia (ET)	cancer	223	156	+43%	Growing
5	Unresectable stage III non-small-cell lung cancer	cancer	227	163	+39%	Growing
6	Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer	cancer	717	520	+38%	Growing
7	Luminal androgen receptor triple-negative breast cancer (LAR)	cancer	323	242	+33%	Growing
8	Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma	cancer	500	377	+33%	Growing
9	Clear cell renal cell carcinoma	cancer	1,164	922	+26%	Growing
10	Myeloproliferative neoplasms (PV, ET, myelofibrosis)	cancer	682	541	+26%	Growing
11	Ewing sarcoma	cancer	476	378	+26%	Growing
12	Metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer	cancer	361	287	+26%	Growing
13	Thymoma (WHO types A, AB, B1, B2 and B3)	cancer	395	315	+25%	Growing
14	Rosai-Dorfman-Destombes disease	cancer	177	144	+23%	Growing
15	Myelodysplastic syndromes / neoplasms (MDS)	cancer	2,154	1,761	+22%	Growing

Most cited key papers

Citations for 2515 of 2582 key papers, from OpenAlex (CC0) on 2026-10-01. Total citations reward age; the last two years show whether a paper is still being built on.

25 papers

	Paper
1	Sung 2021: GLOBOCAN 2020, the year breast cancer overtook lung cancer as the most diagnosed cancer Sung H, Ferlay J, Siegel RL, et al. · 2021	CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians	2021	114,778	17,192	5,704
2	Bray 2018: GLOBOCAN 2018, worldwide incidence and mortality for 36 cancers Bray F, Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, et al. · 2018	CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians	2018	88,289	4,927	1,031
3	Jemal 2011: Global cancer statistics (GLOBOCAN 2008) Jemal A, Bray F, Center MM, Ferlay J, Ward E, Forman D. · 2011	CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians	2011	55,013	321	93
4	AlphaFold 2: predicting protein structures to near-experimental accuracy Jumper J, Evans R, Pritzel A, et al. · 2021	Nature	2021	47,741	11,045	7,007
5	Ferlay 2015: sources, methods and major patterns in GLOBOCAN 2012 Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Dikshit R, et al. · 2015	International Journal of Cancer	2015	29,253	638	263
6	The Hallmarks of Cancer: six capabilities every tumour must acquire Hanahan D, Weinberg RA · 2000	Cell	2000	28,976	826	398
7	Torre 2015: Global cancer statistics, 2012 Torre LA, Bray F, Siegel RL, et al. · 2015	CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians	2015	27,467	437	101
8	Bray 2024: GLOBOCAN 2022, the world's cancer count for 36 cancers in 185 countries Bray F, Laversanne M, Sung H, et al. · 2024	CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians	2024	26,176	14,361	7,796
9	Stupp 2005: temozolomide added to radiotherapy for newly diagnosed glioblastoma Stupp R, Mason WP, van den Bent MJ, et al. · 2005	New England Journal of Medicine	2005	22,144	1,400	1,100
10	Siegel 2019: Cancer statistics, 2019 Siegel RL, Miller KD, Jemal A. · 2019	CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians	2019	21,056	659	178
11	Parkin 2005: Global cancer statistics, 2002 Parkin DM, Bray F, Ferlay J, Pisani P. · 2005	CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians	2005	18,399	107	41
12	Siegel 2022: Cancer statistics, 2022 Siegel RL, Miller KD, Fuchs HE, Jemal A. · 2022	CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians	2022	18,373	2,090	574
13	Chen 2016: Cancer statistics in China, 2015 Chen W, Zheng R, Baade PD, et al. · 2016	CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians	2016	18,014	466	134
14	Siegel 2021: Cancer statistics, 2021 Siegel RL, Miller KD, Fuchs HE, Jemal A. · 2021	CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians	2021	17,457	1,172	270
15	Siegel 2018: Cancer statistics, 2018 Siegel RL, Miller KD, Jemal A. · 2018	CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians	2018	17,066	532	143
16	Siegel 2023: Cancer statistics, 2023 Siegel RL, Miller KD, Wagle NS, Jemal A. · 2023	CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians	2023	17,061	4,062	1,126
17	2015 American Thyroid Association management guidelines for adult patients with thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer Haugen BR, Alexander EK, Bible KC, et al. · 2016	Thyroid	2016	16,739	1,410	854
18	Molecular portraits of human breast tumours Perou CM, Sørlie T, Eisen MB, et al. · 2000	Nature	2000	16,575	522	379
19	Understanding the Warburg effect: the metabolic requirements of cell proliferation Vander Heiden MG, Cantley LC, Thompson CB · 2009	Science	2009	16,543	1,233	862
20	Aaronson 1993: the EORTC QLQ-C30 quality of life questionnaire Aaronson NK, Ahmedzai S, Bergman B, et al. · 1993	JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute	1993	16,265	955	730
21	Siegel 2016: Cancer statistics, 2016 Siegel RL, Miller KD, Jemal A. · 2016	CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians	2016	16,201	216	45
22	Accurate structure prediction of biomolecular interactions with AlphaFold 3 Abramson J, Adler J, Dunger J, et al. · 2024	Nature	2024	16,106	7,522	6,639
23	Therasse 2000: RECIST, the standard rules for measuring whether a tumour responds Therasse P, Arbuck SG, Eisenhauer EA, et al. · 2000	JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute	2000	15,763	149	75
24	Hodi 2010: ipilimumab, the first checkpoint inhibitor, extends survival in metastatic melanoma Hodi FS, O'Day SJ, McDermott DF, et al. · 2010	New England Journal of Medicine	2010	15,363	590	371
25	Coussens and Werb 2002: inflammation and cancer Coussens LM, Werb Z. · 2002	Nature	2002	15,260	591	296

Not found in OpenAlex by DOI: Acupuncture-point stimulation for chemotherapy-induced nausea or vomiting, ADAURA: exploratory eight-year overall survival update for adjuvant osimertinib in resected EGFR-mutated stage IB to IIIA lung cancer, An anti-PMEL antibody-drug conjugate with a G q/1 1 inhibitor payload in GNAQ/GNA11-mutant melanomas: a phase 1 trial, Cervical cancer elimination in India: Repurposing diagnostics, vaccination, and accelerating policy for the 2030 target, Daraxonrasib: A Breakthrough in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Darolutamide Plus Androgen-deprivation Therapy in Metastatic Hormone-sensitive Prostate Cancer by Disease Volume and Risk Subgroups in the Phase 3 ARANOTE Trial, First-line anlotinib versus bevacizumab plus CapeOX in RAS/BRAF wild-type unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer (ANCHOR): a multicenter, prospective, randomized, phase 3 trial, FLAURA2: long-term safety of first-line osimertinib plus platinum-pemetrexed in EGFR-mutated advanced lung cancer, Implementation and audit of mainstream genetic testing within a high-volume UK breast unit for pathogenic variations associated with breast cancer using the R208 and R444.1 National Test Directory criterion, Integrating Metronomic Therapy With Standard Chemotherapy in Advanced Unresectable Head and Neck Cancer: A Randomized Trial Addressing Global Cancer Care Equity (METRO PLUS), KRYSTAL-12 plain language summary: adagrasib for non-small-cell lung cancer with KRAS G12C mutations, Real-world analysis of ctDNA and other biomarkers in patients with curatively resected stage I-III biliary tract cancer, Tambotatug Pelitecan in Small-Cell Lung Cancer after Platinum-Based Therapy, The Repurposing Drugs in Oncology (ReDO) Project.

Most published, last 12 months

20 topics

	Topic
1	CCDC6	target	187,521	193,504	-3%	Flat
2	Iobenguane I-131 (therapeutic)	drug	103,856	92,413	+12%	Growing
3	Breast cancer (all types)	cancer	22,549	22,896	-2%	Flat
4	State (Arc Institute perturbation model)	technology	18,363	16,742	+10%	Growing
5	Azacitidine	drug	18,040	16,743	+8%	Growing
6	Decitabine + cedazuridine (oral)	drug	17,695	16,462	+7%	Growing
7	Lung cancer (all types)	cancer	16,221	16,108	+1%	Flat
8	Single-cell & spatial profiling	technology	15,992	11,906	+34%	Growing
9	RNA sequencing & expression profiling	technology	14,115	11,446	+23%	Growing
10	SET	target	13,865	14,807	-6%	Shrinking
11	Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumour (ATRT)	cancer	12,746	0	-	-
12	Adenocarcinoma of the lung	cancer	11,298	10,179	+11%	Growing
13	Colorectal cancer	cancer	10,893	10,602	+3%	Flat
14	MET	target	10,571	8,753	+21%	Growing
15	Hepatocellular carcinoma	cancer	10,158	10,522	-3%	Flat
16	Leukaemia (all types)	cancer	10,037	10,279	-2%	Flat
17	Squamous cell carcinoma of the lung	cancer	9,562	9,220	+4%	Flat
18	ELL	target	9,392	10,206	-8%	Shrinking
19	Cytotoxic chemotherapy	technology	9,345	9,287	+1%	Flat
20	Immune checkpoint inhibitors	technology	8,999	7,415	+21%	Growing

Method and caveats

Queries search title and abstract for the object’s name, brand, code, or curated phrases, and require a cancer word unless the object is a cancer. Query strings are shown on each object page under “Latest papers”.
Counts use Europe PMC’s first-publication date (FIRST_PDATE), so preprints and ahead-of-print articles count when they first appear. Europe PMC covers PubMed, PMC, Agricola, and major preprint servers.
Growth is (last 12 months − prior 12 months) / prior 12 months. Objects with fewer prior papers than the threshold are excluded from growth rankings but appear in the volume table.
Name collisions inflate some counts (a code like “MK-2870” is precise; a word like “PET” is not). Treat the ranking as a prompt to look, not as a measurement.
The current year is partial, so its bar is drawn lighter.