Neck dissection for oral squamous-cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a clinically controversial issue and has therefore been the subject of abundant research. However, no one has performed a bibliometric study on this topic to date. The aim of this study was to assess the development of research on neck dissection for OSCC in terms of the historical evolution, current hotspots and future directions, particularly including research trends and frontiers from 2010 to 2019. Literature records related to research on neck dissection for OSCC were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). CiteSpace was used as a tool to perform a bibliometric analysis of this topic. The survey included 2 096 papers. “Otorhinolaryngology” was the most popular research area. The most active institutions and countries were Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the USA, respectively. Shah J.P. was the most cited author. Among the six identified “core journals”, Head & Neck ranked first. The top three trending keywords were ‘invasion’, ‘upper aerodigestive’ and ‘negative neck’. ‘D’Cruz AK (2015)’ was the most cited and the strongest burst reference in the last decade. The study evaluated the effect on survival of elective versus therapeutic neck dissection in patients with lateralized early-stage OSCC. The depth of invasion and the management of N0 OSCC were research frontiers in this field. The present study provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of research on neck dissection for OSCC, which will assist investigators in exploring potential research directions.

口腔鳞状细胞癌（OSCC）的颈淋巴清扫术是一个在临床上有争议的问题，因此已成为众多研究的主题。但是，迄今为止，还没有人对此主题进行过文献计量研究。这项研究的目的是从历史演变，当前热点和未来方向，尤其是从2010年到2019年的研究趋势和前沿，评估OSCC颈夹层研究的发展。 OSCC从Web of Science核心合集（WoSCC）中检索。CiteSpace被用作对该主题进行文献计量分析的工具。这项调查包括2 096篇论文。“耳鼻喉科学”是最受欢迎的研究领域。最活跃的机构和国家分别是斯隆·凯特琳纪念癌症中心和美国。Shah JP是被引用次数最多的作者。在六种确定的“核心期刊”中，头颈部排名第一。排名前三的趋势关键词是“入侵”，“上消化道上部”和“负颈”。在过去十年中，“ D'Cruz AK（2015）”被引用最多，也是最强的爆破参考。这项研究评估了早期OSCC偏侧患者选择性颈淋巴结清扫术与治疗性颈淋巴结清扫术对存活率的影响。入侵深度和N0 OSCC的管理是该领域的研究前沿。本研究为OSCC的颈部夹层研究提供了全面的文献计量分析，这将有助于研究人员探索潜在的研究方向。