This study aims to explore the most influential countries/regions, institutions, journals, authors, keywords, and trends in the study of the mechanism and treatments of radiation dermatitis (RD) from 2003 to 2023 using bibliometric analysis.

The literature associated with RD was retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection, only articles and reviews in English were included. Individual articles were reviewed to identify the authorship, published journal, journal impact factor, institution and country of origin, and year of publication.

A total of 6,453 authors from 1,605 institutions in 64 countries/regions published 1,062 RD-related literature. The United States was the most productive country. The Unicancer in France was the institution that published the majority of articles on RD. Edward Chow was the most productive author and Supportive Care in Cancer contributed the most articles. Advanced head and neck cancer is the most common cause of RD. The mechanism research mainly focused on nitric oxide, oxidative stress, and apoptosis in recent years, and Mepitel film, Mepilex Lite, and PBMT were the main preventive and therapeutic measures for RD.

Our bibliometric studies provide a thorough overview of RD and valuable insights and ideas for scholars in this discipline.