Title:Natural Products, the Continuous Source of Therapeutic Molecules for Various Diseases: Literature Landscape Analysis
Volume: 14
Author(s): Andy W.K. Yeung*, Andrei Mocan, Nikolay T. Tzvetkov, Karel Šmejkal, Elke H. Heiss and Atanas G. Atanasov*
Affiliation:
- Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Applied Oral Sciences and Community Dental Care, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong S.A.R.,China
- Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna,Austria
Keywords:
Bioactive molecules, natural products, polyketides, alkaloids, citation analysis, bibliometrics, pharmacology.
Abstract:
Background: Substances present in nature have been a continuous source for the development
of drugs for cardiovascular and infectious diseases, cancer, and many other diseases. As
the literature concerning these natural products grows, it becomes more difficult for a reader to
quickly grasp the essential facts and develop a well-informed impression of this field of research.
Until now, it has also been difficult to determine which natural products and research objectives
were gaining the most attention as measured by a number of citations.
Objective: The current study of all published articles concerned with natural products sought to
identify which natural products and which research objectives are connected with the major contributors
to scientific journals based on the number of relevant publications and the number of times
each publication was cited elsewhere.
Methods: Bibliometric data, including citation data, were extracted from the Web of Science
database using the search string TS=(“natural product*)” and analyzed by the VOSviewer software.
Results: The search yielded 63,194 articles, with more than half of the manuscripts published since
2012. The ratio of original articles to reviews was 5.8:1. The major contributing countries were the
United States, China, Germany, Japan, and India. Articles were published mainly in journals focused
on chemistry, pharmacology or biochemistry. Curcumin, resveratrol, and terpenoids were the
most frequently cited natural products.
Conclusion: The results of the current study provide researchers from different backgrounds and
healthcare professionals with a brief overview of the major trends in natural-product research in the
form of a citation-based summary of the relevant literature.
