Abstract
The mission for drug discovery and progress has prompt researchers to scientifically validate the therapeutic uses of medicinal plants available worldwide, of which, African medicinal plants serve as a great reservoir. Despite the extensive work in the field of medicinal plants of African origin, however, bibliometric report on the work conducted on African medicinal plants is scarce, and hence, the present study aimed at evaluating the top 100 most cited articles on medicinal plant wealth of Africa. The literature data used for the bibliometric analysis was explored from Web of Science (WoS) while RStudio and VOSviewer software were used for data analysis and collaboration network visualization, respectively. The most prolific authors were Van Staden J, Jager AK, Teklehaymanot T whereas, the top 3 journals were Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, and South African Journal of Botany. Most cited journals were Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Phytochemistry, Phytotherapy Research. The topmost institutions in terms of the number of articles were the University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of Addis Ababa and Pretoria. South Africa was the most cited country followed by Nigeria. Single country publications dominated the field and therefore, multiple country collaboration should be a focus of social networks among the researchers in the field.
Highlights
African traditional plant-based medicines are referred to as indigenous knowledge, beliefs, practices, skills, philosophies, ideas or theories associated with different cultures explored in the treatment or management of various human diseases with the aid of herbs mixtures [1]
The literature data used for the bibliometric analysis was explored from Web of Science (WoS) while Rstudio and VOSviewer software were used for data analysis and collaboration network visualization, respectively
“the big question about the benefits of effective scientific communication is that the growing number of journals’ publications and the tendency to make them available in digital media, how can scientific articles reach the largest number of readers and the audience who will find the work most salient? [51]
Summary
African traditional plant-based medicines are referred to as indigenous knowledge, beliefs, practices, skills, philosophies, ideas or theories associated with different cultures explored in the treatment or management of various human diseases with the aid of herbs mixtures [1]. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 80% of developing countries depend on traditional medicine for therapeutic purposes [3]. These plants have been reported to possess several therapeutic potentials against various human deadly ailments [4, 5]. The efficacy of herbal medicines over synthetic drugs could be attributed to the fact that herbal mixtures comprise numerous bioactive compounds that possibly have additive or synergetic effects to enhance their therapeutic uses [7, 8]. Bioactive compounds are referred to as secondary metabolites and their presence in plants is highly beneficial such that they serve as defensive agents against predators, pests, diseases and protect them from the harsh environmental conditions [8]
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