BACKGROUND: SIRT6 is a molecule of significant interest in the field of epigenetics. This review of the literature aimed to explore research hotspots and other bibliometric features of SIRT6 by applying several bibliometric analysis tools and by establishing a comprehensive scientometric analysis model of SIRT6.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The research sample included 441 articles related to SIRT6 obtained from the Web of Science core collection. Bicomb software was used to extract high frequency keywords, and then a binary matrix and a co-word matrix were constructed. We used Gcluto for double clustering, EXCEL for strategic coordinate building, Citespace software for co-citation analysis, CitNetExplorer for citation analysis, and Vosviewer for journal and term analysis.

RESULTS: Research hotspots and the base knowledge of SIRT6 were determined by co-word and co-citation network analysis. The strategic coordinates approach was used to assess the research prospects of each hotspot and the connections between these hotspots. The distribution of disciplines and journals was determined and both a term density map and a dual-map were constructed by application of different tools.

CONCLUSIONS: SIRT6’s regulation of chromatin, lifespan, DNA damage, and metabolism make up the most important SIRT6 intellectual basis from the past 10 years. SIRT6 study has concentrated on the effects of this molecule on tumors and shown promising trends in understanding neural diseases. However, there has been little analysis of how SIRT6 effects are part of more complex systems. Work by Motoslavsky (2006) represents a milestone in SIRT6 research, and the studies by Kawahara 2009 and Kim 2010 are key in the knowledge transmission of SIRT6 research.

Keywords: Bibliometrics, Computational Biology, Histone Deacetylases, Sirtuins