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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Gastrointestinal Cancers: Hepato Pancreatic Biliary Cancers
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1527091
This article is part of the Research TopicReviews in Ethnopharmacology: 2025View all 14 articles
Effectiveness of herbal medicine for liver cancer treatment as revealed by a bibliometric and visualisation analysis
Provisionally accepted- Wenzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wenzhou, China
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Background: Liver cancer is highly prevalent worldwide. However, current medical treatments remain insufficient. Although herbal medicine has a long history and extensive expertise in treating liver cancer, the literature in this field has not been thoroughly explored. This study aims to assess and analyze the distribution patterns and key research areas of publications concerning herbal medicine for liver cancer.Methods: Literature on herbal medicine and liver cancer published between January 1, 2008, and September 28, 2024, was collected for this research. Excel, Citespace 6.4.R1, VOSviewer 1.6.20, Scimago Graphica, and Bibliometrix 4.1 were used for data analysis. Result: The study examines 634 academic articles on herbal medicine for liver cancer, with the majority contributed by Chinese researchers, particularly from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Wang Ning is the most productive author, possessing the highest h-index. The JOURNAL OF ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY has the most publications and the highest h-index. Journals publishing on herbal medicine and liver cancer are primarily in the fields of molecular biology and immunology, whereas the cited journals are mainly in the fields of environment, toxicology, and nutrition. Keyword clustering analysis indicates that “NF kappa B” and apoptosis have long been the main research topics in this field. Analysis of emergent words suggests that “network pharmacology”, antioxidants, “adjuvant therapy”, and “molecular docking” may become significant research topics in the near future.Conclusion: This analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the current status, primary focuses, and emerging trends in research related to herbal medicine and liver cancer.
Keywords: Bibliometrics, Citespace, VOSviewer, liver cancer, Herbal Medicine
Received: 12 Nov 2024; Accepted: 14 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shi, Wang, Zhang, Wu, Zhu, Yan and Ouyang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yusha Shi, Wenzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wenzhou, China
Qin Ouyang, Wenzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wenzhou, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.