HOW CAN THE WORLD OVERLOOK Sapindus rarak BIOPROSPECTION? A NICHE FOR INDONESIA

Abstract

Sapindus rarak, a native plant of Indonesia, is renowned for its saponin-rich fruit, acting as a natural detergent for Batik and baby cloth diapers. This study aims to determine the trends in S. rarak research through a dual approach: bibliometrics and scoping review. The bibliometrics analysis involved defining search keywords, extracting publications, refining results, compiling metadata, and mapping authors, keywords, and collaborations. The scoping review meanwhile included determining research objectives and questions, defining the scope, selecting studies through an iterative team approach, extracting data, summarizing qualitative and quantitative analysis, reporting results, and preparing the considerations of implications in research. Scopus identified 32 publications related to S. rarak by 23 authors from 1992 to 2022, accumulating 387 citations. Google Scholar reported 201 publications with 1176 citations. Notably, Indonesia, the Indonesian Research Institute for Animal Production, and Elizabeth Wina emerged as the most influential country, institution, and author, respectively. Research findings were clustered into chemistry, biology, medicine, and physics. However, the bioprospection of S. rarak fruit mainly focused on livestock supplementation. Surprisingly, no studies on the efficacy of S. rarak as a detergent, so far, were found in any reputable international journals. All articles exclusively discussed about S. rarak fruit or seed, neglecting any exploration of the leaves, indicating an overlooked potential. Future research should comprehensively explore the S. rarak for additional valuable phytochemicals beyond saponin, positioning it as a signature bioresource with significant economic value, expanding beyond its current detergents use within society.