A web of science-based analysis of global research trends on moringa oleifera from 2010 – 2019

Abstract

Since time immemorial, people in developing countries relied on herbal folklore to treat different human diseases because of their numerous advantages over conventional drugs. As a result, the applications of medicinal plants are increasing in both advanced and developing countries owing to the emergent popularity of herbal products. Moringa oleifera (M. oleifera) is one of the most promising floras that have received global attention due to its versatile uses in medicine, industries, agriculture, nutrients, and coagulant in water treatment. Despite the extensive literature on this plant, no document has been reported on the quantity of research that has been carried out on the plant over time and as a result, this present study aimed to in retrospect evaluate the global research outputs on M. oleifera from 2010 to 2019. An overall of 989 articles was retrieved from Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCI-Expanded) and a bibliometric package in RStudio and VOS viewer were explored for data analysis and visualization, respectively. The research outputs were observed to have increased relatively over the year, and the most relevant author, institution, country, and journal were Bergamasco R (n = 33), UniversidadeEstadual de Maringá (n = 199), India (n =145) Industrial Crops and Products (n = 29), respectively. Co-authors/documents were 5, while 3.79 for the collaboration index. Findings from this study reveal the research collaboration network among the researchers and trend topics on M. oleifera and we believe that this study would provide valuable information for researchers interested in joining the field in the future.