Research advances and future perspectives of nanomaterials for depression therapy: a scientometric review

Depressive disorder is one of the most common mental health conditions with significant repercussions on both the physical and psychological health of affected individuals. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have been undertaken to evaluate nanomaterials for the diagnosis and treatment of depression. This study aims to objectively and comprehensively summarize the research advances and future perspectives of nanomaterials for depression therapy via scientometric analysis.

Literature related to nanomaterials for depression therapy was retrieved from Web of Science Core Collection, Scopus, and PubMed databases. Scientometric analysis and visualization were primarily performed using Bibliometrix and included publications, research topics, countries, institutions, journals, high-frequency keyword analysis, and keyword cluster analysis. Based on the results of this scientometric analysis, the article presents a detailed discussion and summary of the potential of nanomaterials for the diagnosis and treatment of depression.

A total of 343 articles related to the applications of nanomaterials in the treatment of depression were included, with an increasing number of publications noted each year. These studies focused primarily on three areas: materials science, nanotechnology, and pharmacy/chemistry. China, India, and Iran are the top three countries in this field. The most influential institutions are the Egyptian Knowledge Bank, Cairo University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The top three journals are Microchimica Acta, International Journal of Pharmaceutics, and Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. The results of keyword analysis revealed that the main areas of interest are diagnosis, nanomaterials with antidepressant activity, nano-drug delivery systems, and nanotoxicity.

Based on the results of the scientometric analysis, this study discusses the diagnosis, treatment, and current limitations of nanomaterials for depression therapy. This review will inspire novel ideas for the development of nanomaterials with applications in depression therapy.