Knowledge Mapping of Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels (Danggui) Research: A Scientometric Study

Cuncun Lu; Ming Liu; Wenru Shang; Yuan Yuan; Meixuan Li; Xiuxiu Deng; Huijuan Li; Kehu Yang

doi:10.3389/fphar.2020.00294

Knowledge Mapping of Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels (Danggui) Research: A Scientometric Study

Front Pharmacol. 2020 Mar 13:11:294. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2020.00294. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Cuncun Lu^{1

2}, Ming Liu^{1

2}, Wenru Shang³, Yuan Yuan⁴, Meixuan Li^{1

2}, Xiuxiu Deng⁵, Huijuan Li^{1

2}, Kehu Yang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Evidence-Based Medicine Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
² Evidence-Based Social Science Center, School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
³ School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Clinical College of Chinese Medicine, Gansu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou, China.
⁵ Central Laboratory, Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China.

Abstract

Background: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been widely accepted and applied worldwide, and many publications related to Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels (AS, Chinese name is "Danggui") have been published. However, to date, there has not been a scientometric study to systematically analyze the intellectual landscape and emerging research trends regarding AS. Therefore, we performed a scientometric study to address this gap.

Methods: Publications related to AS published from 2009 to 2018 were identified and selected from the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection on May 30, 2019 using relevant keywords. HistCite, CiteSpace, and Excel 2016 software tools were used to conduct this scientometric study.

Results: Seven hundred and sixty-seven articles (including 717 primary articles and 60 review articles) and their cited references were included and analyzed. The majority of publications (N = 565, 73.7%) were published in mainland China, with Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine contributing the most publications (N = 42, 5.5%). The first core journal was Journal of Ethnopharmacology (N = 58, 7.6%; impact factor = 3.414). The identification and assessment of active components (like ferulic acid) of AS and their pharmacological actions (such as immunomodulatory effects) are the current research foci for AS research.

Conclusion: The present scientometric study provides an overview of the development of AS research over the previous decade using quantitative and qualitative methods, and this overview can provide references for researchers focusing on AS.

Keywords: Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels; CiteSpace; HistCite; scientometric; traditional Chinese medicine.