Global research landscape on herbal, traditional, and complementary therapies for psoriasis: a global bibliometric analysis (2005–2025)

Abstract Background Psoriasis is a skin inflammation-based condition caused by immune dysfunction leading to physical, psychological and socio-economic burden. Limitations with the current treatments like cost, safety and variable patient outcomes have contributed to interest in exploration of herbal, traditional and complementary treatment approaches. Although the research area is expanding, no studies have been conducted regarding analysis of the trends in the field of herbal, traditional and complementary treatment approaches for psoriasis management. Main body This study provides a comprehensive bibliometric evaluation of global output on these treatment approaches from the year 2005 to 2025. The publications were retrieved from the Scopus database following search strategy and 898 articles were included based on preselection criteria. The Bibliometrix R package and VOSviewer were the bibliometric tools used for the analysis of publications, geographical research institutions, authors, journal impact and thematic trends and evolution. The findings reveal increased productivity in the past decade, indicating research interest. China and India were leading contributors the field of research. Collaborative networks highlight international collaborations among European countries and the USA with Asian countries. Thematic evolution indicated the increasing research attention towards molecular mechanisms, immune and pro-inflammatory pathways, computational and bioinformatics approaches such as network pharmacology and molecular docking. The formulation advancements also emerged as new research interest in this research. Conclusion Although the field demonstrated substantial progress, the literature mapped in this bibliometric analysis suggests that comparatively less emphasis on herbal standardization and clinical validation. Overall, the current analysis identifies the research progress, hotspots of research, and emphasize the significance of interdisciplinary research practices to strengthen scientific foundation of herbal therapeutics for psoriasis treatment.