A Bibliometric Analysis of Cannabis Publications: Six Decades of Research and a Gap on Studies with the Plant

Abstract

In this study we performed a bibliometric analysis focusing on the general patterns of scientific publications about Cannabis, revealing their trends and limitations. Publications related to Cannabis, released from 1960 to 2017, were retrieved from the Scopus database using six search terms. The search term “Genetics” returned 53.4% of publications, while “forensic genetics” and “traceability” represented 2.3% and 0.1% of the publications, respectively. However, 43.1% of the studies were not directly related to Cannabis and, in some cases, Cannabis was just used as an example in the text. A significant increase in publications was observed after 2001, with most of the publications coming from Europe, followed by North America. Although the term Cannabis was found in the title, abstract, or keywords of 1284 publications, we detected a historical gap in studies on Cannabis. We expect that increasing interest in this issue and the rise of new biotechnological advances will lead to the development of new studies. This study will help scientists identify overall research needs, detect the scientific areas in evidence concerning Cannabis studies, and find excellent centers of investigation for scientific interchange and collaboration.

Molecular neuroscience at its “high”: bibliometric analysis of the most cited papers on endocannabinoid system, cannabis and cannabinoids

“…The major WoS categories associated with the manuscripts were Multidisciplinary sciences (n = 31), Neurosciences (n = 20), Pharmacology / Pharmacy (n = 16), and General / Internal Medicine (n = 11). Consistent to previous surveys on Cannabis literature, the majority of the publications focused on the biological/medicinal science instead of plant science (Matielo et al 2018;Treister-Goltzman et al 2018). Table 1 lists the top five most prolific authors, institutions, countries, and journals, in terms of their publication count and averaged citations per manuscript.…”

“…A recent bibliometric analysis of cannabis-related literature investigated six topics involving genetics, biochemistry, and biology (Matielo et al 2018). We aimed to evaluate the literature from another perspective, by identifying the most impactful manuscripts concerning endocannabinoid, cannabis and cannabinoid.…”

Bibliometric and Scientometric Analysis of Scopus-Indexed Literature on Hemp (Cannabis sativa) Breeding

“…The increased publication intensities can be attributed to the growing appreciation of the medicinal uses of hemp amongst the general populace and the growth of industrial streams which absorbs large quantities of hemp as a raw material for textile, biofuels, and bioplastics. However, the observed increments in publications are mainly concerned with the broader aspects related to hemp cultivation which are not conclusively linked to hemp genetics [27] or breeding.…”

“…The highest number of published papers were observed in the Industrial Crops and Products, Frontiers of Plant Science and Journal of Natural Fibres. Despite these developments, published work on forensic genetics are still limited [27]. Moreover, the current scientific archives show that there is a lack of review studies reporting on the overall research trends of hemp [27].…”

“…Despite these developments, published work on forensic genetics are still limited [27]. Moreover, the current scientific archives show that there is a lack of review studies reporting on the overall research trends of hemp [27]. Bibliometric and scientometric analyses should therefore be out-scaled to cover other online databases for accurate and reliable assessments of the current status of scientific and academic literature on hemp breeding.…”