Research trends in Korean medicine based on temporal and network analysis

Area of Science:

• Integrative Medicine
• Traditional Korean Medicine
• Bibliometrics

Background:

• Significant growth in Korean medicine research necessitates trend analysis.
• Understanding research trajectories is crucial for future development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and analyze research trends in Korean medicine.
• To map the evolution of research topics and their interconnections.

Main Methods:

• Utilized temporal and network analysis on 29,876 articles from OASIS (1963-2018).
• Extracted keywords and years to create an annual frequency matrix.
• Constructed a clustered network to visualize topic relationships.

Main Results:

• Identified six chronological phases in keyword frequency.
• Observed increasing keyword frequency, with "mibyeong," "systems biology," and "korean medicine hospital" emerging recently.
• Network analysis revealed thirteen clusters related to anti-inflammatory/antioxidant effects, diseases (e.g., allergic rhinitis, diabetes), and therapies (e.g., herbal acupuncture, herbal formula).

Conclusions:

• Provides a systematic understanding of Korean medicine research trends.
• Offers insights into future research directions.
• Suggests expanding analysis to include international publications.