Jiaming Feng,1,* Yuqing He,1,* Ting Bai,1,* Qianhui You,1,* Huici Zhu,1 Chengyao Jia,2 Baonian Liu,1 Shaoling Li3 

1Department of Anatomy, School of Integrative Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 201203, People’s Republic of China; 2Guanghua School of Stomatology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Pathology, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Baonian Liu, Department of Anatomy, School of Integrative Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 201203, People’s Republic of China, Email bnliu15@fudan.edu.cn Shaoling Li, Department of Pathology, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China, Email lishaoling@tongji.edu.cn

Background: Artemisinin, found in the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) Artemisia annua, has demonstrated remarkable efficacy in therapeutics and holds significant potential as a pharmaceutical drug in cancer. Until now, there have been no systematic scientometrics studies to analyze the research trend of artemisinin and its derivatives in cancer.
Aim of the Study: We conducted this bibliometric study with the aim of providing researchers in the field with an all-around summary of artemisinin and its derivatives in cancer, visualizing current research advances, identifying hotspots, and ultimately outlining cutting-edge trends for future development.
Methods: A total of 927 relevant publications from 1990 to 2023 were accessed from the WOSCC database and analyzed bibliometrically utilizing software including CiteSpace VOSviewer and Microsoft Excel.
Results: Global publications in artemisinin and tumor therapy have steadily increased. China is considered the leading country in terms of publication numbers, and Chinese scholars have been influential in the field of artemisinin and its derivatives in the prevention and treatment of cancer. Cluster analysis of co-cited references depicted artemisinin-type drugs, bax-mediated intrinsic pathways, and infected erythrocytes as the most noteworthy topics. In contrast, the keywords analysis revealed a strong emphasis on the issues of cancer, in-vitro, cycle arrest, anticancer activity, and plasmodium-falciparum.
Conclusion: This study provides a comprehensive overview of relevant research trends by explicitly analyzing the published literature associated with artemisinin and its derivatives in cancer. The results of this multifaceted analysis can provide valuable data that offers ample insights for the field and for researchers wishing to venture into the field.

Keywords: artemisinin, cancer, traditional Chinese medicine, therapeutic agent, bibliometric analysis