Worldwide Research Trends on Artemisinin: A Bibliometric Analysis From 2000 to 2021

ObjectiveArtemisinin is an organic compound that comes from Artemisia annua. Artemisinin treatment is the most important and effective method for treating malaria. Bibliometric analysis was carried out to identify the global research trends, hot spots, scientific frontiers, and output characteristics of artemisinin from 2000 to 2021. MethodsPublications and their recorded information from 2000 to 2021 were retrieved through the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). Using VOSviewer and Citespace, the hotspots and trends of studies on artemisinin were visualized. ResultsA total of 8,466 publications were retrieved, and for the past 22 years, the annual number of publications associated with artemisinin kept increasing. The United States published most papers. The H-index and number of citations of the United States ranked first. The University of Oxford and MALARIA JOURNAL were the most productive affiliation and journal, respectively. A paper written by E.A. Ashley in 2011 achieved the highest global citation score. Keywords, such as malaria, artesunate, plasmodium-falciparum, in-vitro, artemisinin resistance, plasmodium falciparum, resistance, and artemether-lumefantrine, appeared most frequently. The research on artemisinin includes clinical research and animal and cell experiments. ConclusionThe biosynthesis, drug resistance mechanism, and combination of artemisinin have become more popular than before. Studies on artemisinin treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been carried out, and good research results have been obtained.

Automated summary

This study used bibliometric analysis to identify the global research trends, hot spots, scientific frontiers, and output characteristics of artemisinin from 2000 to 2021. The research on artemisinin has focused on biosynthesis, drug resistance mechanism, and combination therapy. Studies on artemisinin treating COVID-19 have also been conducted with promising results.