Open data
Every number on Cancer Insight comes from an address you can call yourself. Use it to check our work, build on it or teach with it.
Addresses
| Address | Returns | Example |
|---|---|---|
/api/footprint?cancer={cancer} | PubMed records for a cancer: total, per year for 11 years, per study design, free full text and retracted records. | footprint?cancer=pancreatic |
/api/gaps?cancer={cancer} | The Research Gap Atlas for a cancer (Method 3.0): every measure, signals, periods, treatments and the inspectable sample. | gaps?cancer=pancreatic |
/api/map | The measures and the list of cancers used by the all-cancer map. | map |
/api/map?cancer={id} | One row of the all-cancer map. | map?cancer=breast |
/api/trials?cancer={cancer} | Registered clinical trials for a cancer, counted from ClinicalTrials.gov. | trials?cancer=mesothelioma |
/api/trials?cancer={cancer}&format=csv | Every counted study, one row each, with the categories used on the site. | trials?cancer=mesothelioma&format=csv |
/api/burden | Research share and burden share for each mapped cancer (GLOBOCAN 2024). | burden |
/api/burden?format=csv | The same table as CSV. | burden?format=csv |
/api/retractions?cancer={cancer} | Retracted PubMed records for a cancer: count and the most recent ones. | retractions?cancer=breast |
/api/treatment?cancer={cancer}&treatment={treatment} | PubMed literature on a treatment category within a cancer. | treatment?cancer=lung&treatment=immunotherapy |
The cancer parameter accepts catalogue names in English or Arabic (for example pancreatic, breast cancer or سرطان الثدي) and other cancer terms.
Using the data
- Responses are JSON unless format=csv is given. Every count includes the exact search that produced it.
- Results are cached for up to a day. Please keep automated use light — the counts come from public services that have their own limits.
- Numbers change as PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov are updated; keep the retrieval date with anything you publish.
How to cite
Cancer Insight (2026). Research compared with the burden of each cancer. https://www.cancer-insight.com/research-vs-burden. Accessed 30 Oct 2026. Underlying data: NCBI PubMed; ClinicalTrials.gov; GLOBOCAN 2024 (IARC/WHO).
Terms of the original sources
- PubMed records and counts come from the U.S. National Library of Medicine; follow NLM’s terms for its data.
- Trial registrations come from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
- Burden figures are GLOBOCAN 2024 estimates from the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Cite IARC as the source; IARC does not allow its data to be retrieved systematically to build another database without permission.
- Images come from Wikimedia Commons under each image’s own licence.
The data describe published research and trial registrations. They are not medical advice.