Background Metallic nickel and nickel compounds are classified as possibly carcinogic and carninogic to humans respectively, but the exact carcinogenic mechanism has not been clarified.

Objective To analyze the carcinogenic research trend and hotspots of nickel and nickel compounds, and provide research directions for this topic.

Methods Literature search on the carcinogenesis of nickel and nickel compounds was conducted through authoritative databases at home and abroad: Wanfang, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, PubMed at the US National Library of Medicine, and Elsevier’s biomedical research database EMBASE. VOS viewer 1.6.17 visual analysis software was applied to perform the bibliometric analysis and present results with charts on annual number of publications, distribution of author’s affiliations, country/region distribution, journal distribution, and keywords of literature that meet a predetermined inclusion criteria.

Results A total of 242 Chinese documents and 878 foreign documents (languages included English, German, and Japanese) related to the carcinogenic research of nickel and nickel compounds were found. In terms of Chinese articles, the earliest publication of relevant research was in 1974; Guangzhou Medical University (including Guangzhou Medical College and Institute of Chemical Carcinogenesis of Guangzhou Medical College) was the institution that published most articles in this field (35 articles); Industrial Health and Occupational Diseases was the journal that published the most articles (19 articles). In terms of foreign articles, the earliest publication was in 1950; the United States ranked the country having the highest number of published articles (304 articles), and China took the second place (83 articles); Cancer Research was the journal that published the most articles (40 articles). The keyword co-occurrence analysis showed that the domestic studies on the carcinogenesis of nickel and nickel compounds mainly focused on nickel smelting fume, nickel sulfate, nickel chloride, and other nickel and its compounds in association with DNA damage, DNA methylation, induction of human bronchial epithelial cell transformation, and other carcinogenic mechanisms. The international studies focused on population epidemiological studies on occupational risk factors, incidence, and mortality on carcinogenesis of nickel and nickel compounds, and studies on histone modification, oxidative stress, DNA damage, cell transformation, and other carcinogenic mechanisms.

Conclusion Studies have shown that the hotspots of carcinogenic research on nickel and nickel compounds involved studies on carcinogenic mechanisms related to DNA damage, DNA methylation, histone modification, oxidative stress, and induction of human bronchial epithelial cell transformation, and population epidemiological studies on occupational risk factors, incidence, and mortality. In recent years, the number of published articles on the carcinogenesis of nickel and its compounds in China has been decreasing. In view of the large number of occupational nickel-exposed population in China, more efforts should be made to study the carcinogenesis of nickel and nickel compounds in the future.