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Topic · Complementary and alternative medicine

Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies

Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies is a research topic within Complementary and alternative medicine. Science Explorer counts 23k research works in it since 1950. 9.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the mechanisms, clinical applications, and safety of acupuncture, focusing on its effects on pain relief, neurological responses, and fibroblast reactions. It also delves into the outcomes of acupuncture in various clinical trials for conditions such as osteoarthritis, depression, and cancer care.

  • Acupuncture
  • Pain Relief
  • Neurological Effects
  • Clinical Trials
  • Fibroblast Response
  • Brain Imaging
  • Adverse Events
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Depression
  • Cancer Care
Research works
23k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+23%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
60% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

Which countries lead Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (2.8k and 517 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 2.8k works
  2. 2 United States 517 works
  3. 3 India 410 works
  4. 4 South Korea 245 works
  5. 5 Indonesia 153 works
  6. 6 Türkiye 122 works
  7. 7 Brazil 119 works
  8. 8 Germany 103 works
  9. 9 Japan 98 works
  10. 10 Iran 94 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 60.3%United States: 11.0%India: 8.8%South Korea: 5.2%6 others listed: 14.7%60%largest
China2,820 · 60.3%United States517 · 11.0%India410 · 8.8%South Korea245 · 5.2%6 others listed688 · 14.7%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine publishes the most Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies research, followed by Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Beijing University of Chinese MedicineChina 136 works
  2. 2 Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 133 works
  3. 3 Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 110 works
  4. 4 Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical CollegeChina 94 works
  5. 5 Guangzhou University of Chinese MedicineChina 91 works
  6. 6 China Association of Acupuncture-MoxibustionChina 82 works
  7. 7 Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 82 works
  8. 8 Nanjing University of Chinese MedicineChina 67 works
  9. 9 Heilongjiang University of Chinese MedicineChina 52 works
  10. 10 Zhejiang Chinese Medical UniversityChina 50 works

Who are the leading researchers in Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies include David Moher, Douglas G. Altman and Ronald C. Kessler.

  1. 1 David Moher Canada 898k citations
  2. 2 Douglas G. Altman United Kingdom 862k citations
  3. 3 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
  4. 4 Cyrus Cooper United Kingdom 342k citations
  5. 5 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  6. 6 Matthias Egger Switzerland 326k citations
  7. 7 Gordon Henry Guyatt Canada 315k citations
  8. 8 Peter Jüni Switzerland 303k citations
  9. 9 Peter Christian Gøtzsche Denmark 292k citations
  10. 10 Wei Huang China 267k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies?

The most cited paper in Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies is "Unconventional Medicine in the United States -- Prevalence, Costs, and Patterns of Use" (David M. Eisenberg, Ronald C. Kessler, Cindy Foster et al., 1993), with 4,213 citations. Next come "The effect of mindfulness-based therapy on anxiety and depression: A meta-analytic review." (3,901) and "Mindfulness-based therapy: A comprehensive meta-analysis" (2,051).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Unconventional Medicine in the United States -- Prevalence, Costs, and Patterns of Use David M. Eisenberg, Ronald C. Kessler, Cindy Foster et al. · New England Journal of Medicine Open access 28 Jan 1993 4,213
2 The effect of mindfulness-based therapy on anxiety and depression: A meta-analytic review. Stefan G. Hofmann, Alice T. Sawyer, Ashley Anne Witt et al. · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology Open access 2010 3,901
3 Mindfulness-based therapy: A comprehensive meta-analysis Bassam Khoury, Tania Lecomte, Guillaume M. Fortin et al. · Clinical Psychology Review 7 Jun 2013 2,051
4 Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Stress Management in Healthy People: A Review and Meta-Analysis Alberto Chiesa, Alessandro Serretti · The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine May 2009 1,720
5 Mindfulness-based stress reduction for healthy individuals: A meta-analysis Bassam Khoury, Manoj Sharma, Sarah E. Rush et al. · Journal of Psychosomatic Research Review 28 Apr 2015 1,649
All 98 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies research done?

The largest centres of Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Chengdu (China) and Guangzhou (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Moganshan and Xianyang.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 501 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 257 works
  3. 3 ChengduChina 178 works
  4. 4 GuangzhouChina 177 works
  5. 5 HangzhouChina 111 works
  6. 6 SeoulSouth Korea 109 works
  7. 7 NanjingChina 104 works
  8. 8 TianjinChina 102 works
  9. 9 JinanChina 89 works
  10. 10 HarbinChina 83 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. MoganshanCN · 35.2 works312×
  2. XianyangCN · 69.1 works58×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies than the world average.

See Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Beijing University of Chinese Medicine score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 14.92%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Tianjin University o…Chengdu University o…Beijing University o…Shanghai University …
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 68.119.7%117.7×82 +37.5%
2Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 67.815.7%93.2×110 +52.3%
3Beijing University of Chinese MedicineChina 67.614.1%122.8×136 +26.9%
4Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 65.512.2%104.3×133 +49.5%
5Harvard UniversityUnited States 65.220.6%1.7×25 +4.1%
6Guangzhou University of Chinese MedicineChina 62.413.8%81.1×91 +14.1%
7Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical CollegeChina 61.310.8%19.1×94 +16.1%
8Zhejiang Chinese Medical UniversityChina 57.513.6%42.8×50 +85.7%
9Fujian University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 56.615.0%101.6×26 +21.5%
10Shandong University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 56.313.7%82.8×47 +186.2%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies, country by country

Is Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 23% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.022% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies0.024% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies10.1% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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