Regarding co-cited authors, those with more than 5,000 co-citations, including Llovet JM, who discovered the critical role of mTOR signaling in HCC pathogenesis (Villanueva et al., 2008), Bruix J, who provided guidelines for HCC management (Bruix & Sherman, 2011) and EL-Serag HB, who elaborated the epidemiology of HCC and viral hepatitis (El-Serag, 2012), have made significant contributions in this field. Here, MTOR is linked to viral hepatitis.