Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic Of Iran

en Bridging the Gap: Scenario Planning for Science and Technology in Breast Cancer Oncology Oncology Original Research Original Research Background: The convergence of scientific research and technological breakthroughs is critical to societal health. However, both academic literature and patents can grow at separate rates, leading to gaps in fields like breast cancer. This study aims to identify and bridge the gap between science and technology in breast cancer research through scenario planning.    Methods: This research is a foresight study conducted using the scenario technique method. A total of 191,871 papers and 9085 patents on breast cancer, published between 2012 and 2021, were analyzed using data from the Web of Science Core Collection and PATSTAT databases. Text mining was conducted using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling technique with Python libraries to identify subject clusters and areas of asynchrony. The scenario technique was then developed, aimed at bridging the gap between science and technology.    Results: Our findings revealed that scientific output in breast cancer has greatly surpassed technical advancements, indicating gaps in several key domains. Scientific papers in our dataset, mostly concentrated on the complexities of breast cancer—including genetic mutations, hormone receptors, dietary factors, and environmental influences—whereas the analyzed patents frequently addressed lesser-known areas such as herbal medicine, medical devices, protective clothing, and micro ribonucleic acid therapies. To fill these gaps, 4 scenarios were created and, some effective actions for each scenario were recommended.    Conclusion: Different priorities emerged across the 16 proposed actions for the 3 specific scenarios—excluding the favorable scenario. In all scenarios, enhancing stakeholder ties, establishing cooperative networks, and developing collaborative incentive systems were identified as key strategies for diminishing the gap between science and technology in breast cancer. Scenario Planning, Science and Technology, Breast Cancer, Topic Modeling, PEST Analysis 139 153 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-6308-2&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Homa Arshadi Homaarshadi@gmail.com 200319475328460088445 200319475328460088445 No Faculty of Management and Medical Information Sciences, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran Mostafa Hosseini Golkar Golkar.futures@gmail.com 200319475328460088446 200319475328460088446 No Medical Informatics Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran Zohreh Zahedi z.zahedi@pgu.ac.ir 200319475328460088447 200319475328460088447 No Department of Knowledge and Information Science, Faculty of Humanities, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, Iran Maryam Ashrafi Ashrafi.mm@aut.ac.ir 200319475328460088448 200319475328460088448 No 6. Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran Maryam Okhovati mokhovati@kmu.ac.ir 200319475328460088449 200319475328460088449 Yes Medical Library and Information Sciences Department, Faculty of Management and Medical Information Sciences, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Medical University Campus, Haft-Bagh Highway, Kerman, Iran