Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Substance Use Disorders: A Scientometric Analysis and Visualization of Its Use Between 2001 and 2020

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to identify frontiers for further studies via brief understanding in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for substance use disorders (SUDs). Materials and Methods: Publications on the use of CAM for treating SUDs were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection from 2001 to 2020 on July 12, 2020, and visualized by CiteSpace V. Results: A total of 3,807 publications were obtained. The USA, China, and England were the leading research centers. However, India and Pakistan have recently focused on assessing CAM for the treatment of SUDs. Frederick L Altice was found to be the most productive author. Addiction ranked first among the frequently cited journals, which exceeded 1,000. The most common CAM therapies were acupuncture and CAM psychotherapies, such as mindfulness meditation. Conclusion: CAM is gaining attention globally for treating SUDs. CAM psychotherapy and acupuncture are hotspots and deserve further study. Researchers should strengthen peer cooperation in this field.

Keywords: acupuncture; bibliometrics [MeSH]; complementary therapies; science map; substance-related disorders.

Figure 1

(A) Topic search queries and (B) flowchart of the inclusion of publications.

Figure 2

Annual number of publications on complementary and alternative medicine for substance use disorders.

Figure 3

Visualization of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for substance use disorders (SUDs) by country and institution. (A) The network map of countries and regions for CAM for SUDs. A total of 64 countries or regions were involved, including 64 nodes and 362 links. (B) Top 5 countries with the strongest citation bursts. (C) The network map of CAM for SUDs by institutions. A total of 574 institutions participated in the publication, including 574 nodes and 1,283 links. (D) Top 10 institutions with the strongest citation bursts. (A,C) Top 15 results shown by time slice on 1 year, and different color presents different year as the legend shows. The nodes consist of an annual ring by different colors as legend, and the thickness of the annual ring represents the number of publications at the corresponding time. There is a purple ring in the outermost layers of some nodes, indicating that the node with high centrality may be a central node. (B,D) Each bar presents each year from 2001 to 2020. The red bar indicates that the institution had frequent citation bursts, and the blue bar indicates that the institution had infrequent citation bursts.

Figure 4

Network map of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for substance use disorders (SUDs) by author and category. (A) Regarding the network map by authors, top 14 results present CAM for SUDs. A total of 468 authors participated, including 468 nodes and 701 links. (B) The co-occurrence network map of the cluster by category (top 10 result); 494 nodes and 1,517 links were included. The modularity Q is 0.4549, and the mean silhouette is 0.5977. Time slice on 1 year, and different colors present different years as the legend shows. The color lines between authors indicate their first cooperation time, and the thickness of the lines indicates the times of authors' cooperation. The area in similar color suggests similar clusters and shows cluster at the corresponding time as well.

Figure 5

Visualization of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for substance use disorders (SUDs) by keyword. (A) The network map of keywords (top 15 results); 255 keywords were included, with 255 nodes and 816 links. (B) Top 14 keywords with the strongest citation bursts. Each bar presents each year from 2001 to 2020. The red bar indicates that the institution had frequent citation bursts, and the blue bar indicates that the institution had infrequent citation bursts. (C) The co-occurrence network map of the cluster by keywords for CAM for SUDs. A total of 16 clusters were found, with a modularity Q of 0.4033 and a mean silhouette of 0.6229. Time slice on 1 year, and different colors present different years as the legend shows. The nodes consist of an annual ring by different colors as the legend, and the thickness of the annual ring represents the frequency of keywords at the corresponding time. The area with similar color suggests similar clusters and shows cluster at the corresponding time as well.

Figure 6

Network map and dual map of cited journals for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for substance use disorders (SUDs). (A) Network map and dual map of the cited journals for CAM for SUDs (top 15 results). A total of 944 journals were cited, with 946 nodes and 2,875 links. Time slice on 1 year, and different colors present different years as the legend shows. The nodes consist of an annual ring by different colors as the legend, and the thickness of the annual ring represents the number of research published on the journal at the corresponding time. (B) A dual map of journals of published papers. Lines indicate cross studies between disciplines, and the thickness of the lines indicates close connections. The orange path: Papers published in molecular/biology/immunology, mostly cited journals in molecular/biology/genetics and psychology/education/social. The green and blue paths: Papers published in medicine/medical/clinical journals and psychology/education/health journals mostly cited in molecular/biology/genetics, psychology/education/social, and health/nursing/medicine.

Figure 7

Visualization of references for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for substance use disorders (SUDs). (A) The network map of cited references for CAM for SUDs (top 15 results). A total of 1,316 references were cited, with 1,316 nodes and 3,081 links. (B) The co-occurrence network map of the cluster of references. The modularity Q was 0.9217, and the mean silhouette was 0.3122. (C) Top 14 references with the strongest citation bursts. Each bar presents each year from 2001 to 2020. The red bar indicates that the institution had frequent citation bursts, and the blue bar indicates that the institution had infrequent citation bursts. Time slice on 1 year, and different colors present different years as the legend shows. The nodes consist of an annual ring by different colors as the legend, and the thickness of the annual ring represents times of cited study at the corresponding time. The area with similar color suggests similar clusters and shows cluster at the corresponding time as well.