Comprehensive oncology research mapping in Morocco: Patterns, quality, and unmet needs.

Abstract

e23185 Background: The Moroccan oncology research landscape is constrained by limited infrastructure, uneven capacity and poorly characterised alignment with clinical needs. To move beyond simple counts, we performed a comprehensive, reproducible bibliometric analysis of Moroccan-affiliated oncology publications to quantify temporal trends by study design and speciality, evaluate methodological quality, and map publication gaps against the national cancer burden to inform capacity building, collaboration, and research prioritisation. Methods: The study was conducted per PRISMA-S-compliant systematic search of PubMed, Scopus and WoS for oncology-only records dated 1st January 2000 - 31st December 2025. Original peer-reviewed research, editorials, letters, and conference abstracts with > 1 author affiliated to a Moroccan institution were included. Interrater reliability was quantified using Cohen’s κ. Methodological quality and risk of bias were assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) for observational studies and RoB 2 for randomised trials. Temporal trends were evaluated with Cochran-Armitage tests and segmented regression to detect inflection points, and descriptive summaries were stratified by period, speciality, and centre. Results: 1150 peer-reviewed articles met the inclusion criteria with an interrater screening reliability of 0.86 (95% CI: 0.83–0.89) for title/abstract and 0.91 (95% CI: 0.88–0.94) for full-text; NOS of 6.2 (SD 1.4). Annual output increased from ~ 2 articles in 2000 to ~ 110 articles in 2025 (CAGR = 14%, p < 0.001), with inflection points in 2010 (National Cancer Plan) and 2020 (COVID-19), a transient decline in 2017-2019 and recovery post-2020. Case series dominate the Moroccan oncology literature 410 (33.9%), followed by retrospective studies 285 (23.6%), with relatively few clinical trials 61 (5%), translational research 54 (4.5%), and systematic reviews 38 (3.1%); with a modest but increasing proportion of clinical trials (p = 0.046) and systematic reviews (p = 0.049) in the last decade as for translational research after 2010 (p = 0.02). Research was concentrated around breast 312 (30%), followed by gastrointestinal 200 (19%), while radiation oncology represents 105 (10%). Most studies were monocentric 412 (34.1%), diagnosis- 398 (32.9%) and treatment-orientated 372 (30.8%), with relatively fewer epidemiology 87 (7.2%); concentrated in Rabat and Casablanca public academic institutions 752 (65%). External funding was reported in 21.4% of studies; 41.3% were published open access, with the mean number of authors per article 5.2. Conclusions: Moroccan research output has grown substantially, showing alignment with national rises in breast and gastrointestinal cancer incidence but remains concentrated in a few centres and dominated by single-centre, descriptive studies with limited randomised, multicentre, palliative care, and survivorship research.