Mapping the global research landscape and hotspots of traditional herbal medicine for inflammatory bowel disease: A bibliometric analysis

Traditional herbal medicine, which utilizes herbal materials for complementary, alternative, and integrative therapies, has seen increasing application across diverse medical fields in recent decades, including the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). To our knowledge, no bibliometric analyses have been conducted over the past 3 decades to evaluate the global research landscape of herbal medicine applications in IBD treatment. We performed a bibliometric analysis of scientific publications indexed in the Web of Science database in the past 3 decades (1990-2023), focusing on studies related to IBD treatments involving herbal medicines, including decoctions, formulas, herbal plants, and natural derivatives. By our analysis, China emerged as the most productive country in this field, with Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine contributing the highest number of publications. Hsiao Chung-Der was identified as the most prolific author, while Markus F. Neurath ranked as the most cited author. Journals such as Frontiers in Pharmacology, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, and Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine were not only the top publishers but also the most frequently cited sources. Our analysis further revealed that the most widely used herbal decoctions and herbal plants exhibit shared molecular targets and signaling pathways with therapeutic potential against IBD. This study provides a systematic, visualized, and objective evaluation of research trends, offering insights to guide future investigations in this field.