Garcia-Garcia, P; Lopez-Munoz, F; Rubio, G; Martin-Agueda, B; Alamo, C Phytotherapy and psychiatry: Bibliometric study of the scientific literature from the last 20 years PHYTOMEDICINE, 15 (8): 566-576 AUG 2008

[Eugene Garfield]

E-mail Address: frlopez at juste.net

Author(s): Garcia-Garcia, P (Garcia-Garcia, P.); Lopez-Munoz, F (Lopez-
Munoz, F.); Rubio, G (Rubio, G.); Martin-Agueda, B (Martin-Agueda, B.); 
Alamo, C (Alamo, C.) 

Title: Phytotherapy and psychiatry: Bibliometric study of the scientific 
literature from the last 20 years 

Source: PHYTOMEDICINE, 15 (8): 566-576 AUG 2008 

Language: English 

Document Type: Article 

Author Keywords: phytotherapy; psychiatry; bibliometry 

Keywords Plus: SCIENCE-CITATION-INDEX; ST-JOHNS-WORT; CLINICAL-TRIALS; 
METAANALYSIS; DEPRESSION; BIOMEDICINE; MEDICINES; ANXIETY 

Abstract: In diverse areas of therapy, including psychiatry, increasing 
interest in herbal medicine has been shown in recent years. Plants have a 
wide range of traditional uses, but only a few have been approved 
therapeutically. Moreover, to our knowledge, no bibliometric analyses on 
medicinal plants used in psychiatry have been carried out to date. We 
performed a bibliometric study on scientific publication related to 
phytotherapy in the psychiatry area during the period 1986-2006. Using the 
platform Embase.com, including the EMBASE and MEDLINE databases, we 
selected those documents including the descriptors plant*, herb*, 
phytotherapy*, phytomedicine*, pharmacognosy*, and psychiatry* (with all 
diagnostic criteria). The plants' indications were selected according to 
the PDR for Herbal Medicines. As a bibliometric indicator of the 
production, Price's Law was applied. Another indicator included was the 
national participation index (PI) for overall scientific production. A 
total of 21,409 original documents were obtained. Our data confirm a 
fulfilment of Price's Law related to scientific production on medicinal 
plants in Psychiatry. This was observed after we made a linear fit (y = 
135.08x-466.38; r = 0.92) and another fit to an exponential curve (y = 
132.26e(0.1497x) ; r = 0.99). The plants most widely mentioned in the 
psychiatric literature were St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum L.; n = 
937) and ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.; n = 694). The countries with the 
highest percentages of documents were the United States (29.44%), Germany 
(9.41%) and Japan (8.75%), and those with highest proportional PI were 
India (IPa = 0.935) and China (IPa = 0.721). Productivity on medicinal 
plants in the psychiatry area increased during the period 1986-2006. 
Nevertheless, documents about therapeutic herbs in this medical field are 
still relatively few in number. (c) 2008 Elsevier GmbH. All rights 
reserved. 

Addresses: [Garcia-Garcia, P.; Lopez-Munoz, F.; Alamo, C.] Univ Alcala De 
Henares, Dept Pharmacol, Madrid 28027, Spain; [Rubio, G.] Univ 
Complutense, Dept Psychiat, Retiro Mental Hlth Serv, E-28040 Madrid, 
Spain; [Martin-Agueda, B.] Primary Care Head Off, Teaching & Res Unit, 
Guadalajara, Spain 

Reprint Address: Lopez-Munoz, F, Univ Alcala De Henares, Dept Pharmacol, C 
Juan Ignacio Luca Tena 8, Madrid 28027, Spain. 

E-mail Address: frlopez at juste.net 

Cited Reference Count: 48 

Times Cited: 0 

Publisher: ELSEVIER GMBH, URBAN & FISCHER VERLAG 

Publisher Address: OFFICE JENA, P O BOX 100537, 07705 JENA, GERMANY 

ISSN: 0944-7113 

DOI: 10.1016/j.phymed.2008.04.014 

29-char Source Abbrev.: PHYTOMEDICINE 

ISO Source Abbrev.: Phytomedicine 

Source Item Page Count: 11 

Subject Category: Plant Sciences; Chemistry, Medicinal; Pharmacology & 
Pharmacy 

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