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Topic · Molecular Biology

Bioactive natural compounds

Bioactive natural compounds is a research topic within Molecular Biology. Science Explorer counts 11k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the biological activities and potential pharmacological applications of prenylated flavonoids, with a focus on their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties. The research covers the isolation, structure-activity relationship, and enzyme inhibition of these natural products, as well as their traditional medicinal uses in various cultures.

  • Prenylated Flavonoids
  • Pharmacology
  • Antioxidants
  • Anti-inflammatory
  • Anticancer
  • Traditional Medicine
  • Enzyme Inhibition
  • Isolation
  • Structure-Activity Relationship
  • Natural Products
Research works
11k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+17%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
47% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Bioactive natural compounds

Which countries lead Bioactive natural compounds research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (807 and 368 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 807 works
  2. 2 India 368 works
  3. 3 Indonesia 108 works
  4. 4 South Korea 95 works
  5. 5 United States 89 works
  6. 6 Thailand 62 works
  7. 7 Japan 54 works
  8. 8 Türkiye 51 works
  9. 9 Brazil 45 works
  10. 10 Malaysia 42 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: 46.9%India: 21.4%Indonesia: 6.3%South Korea: 5.5%6 others listed: 19.9%47%largest
China807 · 46.9%India368 · 21.4%Indonesia108 · 6.3%South Korea95 · 5.5%6 others listed343 · 19.9%

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

Which institutions lead Bioactive natural compounds research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Bioactive natural compounds research, followed by Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 29 works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical CollegeChina 25 works
  3. 3 Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesChina 16 works
  4. 4 Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 11 works
  5. 5 Beijing University of Chinese MedicineChina 11 works
  6. 6 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 10 works
  7. 7 Council of Scientific and Industrial ResearchIndia 9 works
  8. 8 Shenyang Pharmaceutical UniversityChina 9 works
  9. 9 Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 9 works
  10. 10 Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 8 works

Who are the leading researchers in Bioactive natural compounds?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Bioactive natural compounds include Jun Wang, Amirhossein Sahebkar and Peter John Barnes.

  1. 1 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  2. 2 Amirhossein Sahebkar Iran 258k citations
  3. 3 Peter John Barnes United Kingdom 225k citations
  4. 4 David Julian McClements United States 185k citations
  5. 5 Barry B. Halliwell United Kingdom 179k 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 Bioactive natural compounds?

The most cited paper in Bioactive natural compounds is "Antimicrobial activity of flavonoids" (T.P. Tim Cushnie, Andrew J. Lamb, 2005), with 4,427 citations. Next come "Advances in flavonoid research since 1992" (3,961) and "Plant flavonoids: Classification, distribution, biosynthesis, and antioxidant activity" (2,145).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Antimicrobial activity of flavonoids T.P. Tim Cushnie, Andrew J. Lamb · International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents Open access 20 Oct 2005 4,427
2 Advances in flavonoid research since 1992 Jeffrey B. Harborne, Christine A. Williams · Phytochemistry Nov 2000 3,961
3 Plant flavonoids: Classification, distribution, biosynthesis, and antioxidant activity Nan Shen, Tongfei A. Wang, Quan Gan et al. · Food Chemistry 23 Feb 2022 2,145
4 Transcriptional control of flavonoid biosynthesis by MYB–bHLH–WDR complexes Weijie Xu, Christian Dubos, Loı̈c Lepiniec · Trends in Plant Science Review 8 Jan 2015 2,090
5 Stability of curcumin in buffer solutions and characterization of its degradation products Ying‐Jan Wang, Min‐Hsiung Pan, Ann‐Lii Cheng et al. · Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis Aug 1997 1,707
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Bioactive natural compounds research done?

The largest centres of Bioactive natural compounds research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Guangzhou (China), Shanghai (China) and Nanjing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Kunming and Bangkok.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 106 works
  2. 2 GuangzhouChina 41 works
  3. 3 ShanghaiChina 36 works
  4. 4 NanjingChina 32 works
  5. 5 KunmingChina 30 works
  6. 6 ChengduChina 28 works
  7. 7 SeoulSouth Korea 28 works
  8. 8 BangkokThailand 27 works
  9. 9 JinanChina 24 works
  10. 10 HangzhouChina 23 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. KunmingCN · 30.5 works6.2×
  2. BangkokTH · 26.8 works4.9×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Bioactive natural compounds than the world average.

See Bioactive natural compounds on the map

Where is the best place to study Bioactive natural compounds?

Among universities, judged by research, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College and Shenyang Pharmaceutical University 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%20%40%mean 13.1%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Chengdu University o…Shenyang Pharmaceuti…Chinese Academy of M…Nanjing Forestry Uni…
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
1Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 67.637.6%20.8×11 +47.0%
2Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical CollegeChina 59.310.1%11.7×25 +9.5%
3Shenyang Pharmaceutical UniversityChina 31.016.9%33.7×9 +12.5%
4Nanjing Forestry UniversityChina 28.86.2%8.9×8 +76.8%
5Nanjing University of Chinese MedicineChina 28.210.6%15.7×8 +44.8%
6Beijing University of Chinese MedicineChina 25.58.1%22.0×11 -14.9%
7Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 25.211.1%28.8×9 +1.6%
8Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 18.37.9%15.1×8 -9.9%
9Airlangga UniversityIndonesia 11.39.4%4.7×8 -1.1%

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 Bioactive natural compounds, country by country

Is Bioactive natural compounds research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 17% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Bioactive natural compounds.

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 Bioactive natural compounds as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0081% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Bioactive natural compounds0.011% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Bioactive natural compounds 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%Bioactive natural compounds10.3% 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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