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Topic · Complementary and alternative medicine

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies is a research topic within Complementary and alternative medicine. Science Explorer counts 30k research works in it since 1950. 10.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the use of herbal and complementary/alternative medicine, particularly among cancer patients and in general populations. It explores adverse reactions, safety monitoring, drug interactions, efficacy evaluation, and regulatory challenges associated with herbal medicine use. The papers also discuss the growing trends in the utilization of complementary and alternative medicine in various countries.

  • Herbal Medicine
  • Complementary Medicine
  • Alternative Medicine
  • Adverse Reactions
  • Safety Monitoring
  • Drug Interactions
  • Cancer Patients
  • Use Trends
  • Efficacy Evaluation
  • Regulatory Challenges
Research works
30k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+16%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
India
36% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies

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

Which countries lead Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies research?

By volume, India and the United States publish the most (1.6k and 888 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 India 1.6k works
  2. 2 United States 888 works
  3. 3 China 588 works
  4. 4 Germany 290 works
  5. 5 Brazil 285 works
  6. 6 Türkiye 262 works
  7. 7 United Kingdom 226 works
  8. 8 Iran 155 works
  9. 9 Australia 127 works
  10. 10 South Korea 127 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.

India: 35.8%United States: 19.4%China: 12.8%Germany: 6.3%6 others listed: 25.8%36%largest
India1,640 · 35.8%United States888 · 19.4%China588 · 12.8%Germany290 · 6.3%6 others listed1,182 · 25.8%

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

Which institutions lead Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Father Muller Homoeopathic Medical College publishes the most Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies research, followed by Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy and National Institute of Ayurveda.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Father Muller Homoeopathic Medical CollegeIndia 122 works
  2. 2 Central Council for Research in HomoeopathyIndia 83 works
  3. 3 National Institute of AyurvedaIndia 76 works
  4. 4 Government Ayurvedic College and HospitalIndia 56 works
  5. 5 University of CalicutIndia 53 works
  6. 6 Ministry of AYUSHIndia 43 works
  7. 7 Desh Bhagat Ayurvedic College and HospitalIndia 41 works
  8. 8 Beijing University of Chinese MedicineChina 38 works
  9. 9 Government Ayurved College, NandedIndia 37 works
  10. 10 Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheswara College of Ayurveda and HospitalIndia 28 works

Who are the leading researchers in Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies include David Moher, Douglas G. Altman and Rob Knight.

  1. 1 David Moher Canada 898k citations
  2. 2 Douglas G. Altman United Kingdom 862k citations
  3. 3 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  4. 4 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
  5. 5 Cyrus Cooper United Kingdom 342k citations
  6. 6 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  7. 7 Matthias Egger Switzerland 326k citations
  8. 8 Gordon Henry Guyatt Canada 315k citations
  9. 9 Dan J. Stein South Africa 306k citations
  10. 10 Peter Jüni Switzerland 303k 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 Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies?

The most cited paper in Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies is "Plant Products as Antimicrobial Agents" (Marjorie Murphy Cowan, 1999), with 9,046 citations. Next come "Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future." (7,655) and "Trends in Alternative Medicine Use in the United States, 1990-1997" (6,711).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Plant Products as Antimicrobial Agents Marjorie Murphy Cowan · Clinical Microbiology Reviews Open access Oct 1999 9,046
2 Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future. Jon Kabat‐Zinn · Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 2003 7,655
3 Trends in Alternative Medicine Use in the United States, 1990-1997 David M. Eisenberg, Roger B. Davis, Susan L. Ettner et al. · JAMA 11 Nov 1998 6,711
4 Functional Bowel Disorders George F. Longstreth, Wade Thompson, William D. Chey et al. · Gastroenterology Apr 2006 4,801
5 Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: A conceptual and empirical review. Ruth A. Baer · Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 2003 4,228
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies research done?

The largest centres of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies research in 2022-now are New Delhi (India), Mangaluru (India), Beijing (China) and Jaipur (India). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Hassan, Amloh and Nadiād.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 New DelhiIndia 243 works
  2. 2 MangaluruIndia 134 works
  3. 3 BeijingChina 118 works
  4. 4 JaipurIndia 93 works
  5. 5 LondonUnited Kingdom 78 works
  6. 6 PuneIndia 67 works
  7. 7 ChennaiIndia 65 works
  8. 8 GuwahatiIndia 60 works
  9. 9 São PauloBrazil 58 works
  10. 10 MalappuramIndia 57 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. HassanIN · 27.9 works155×
  2. AmlohIN · 41.8 works75×
  3. NadiādIN · 22.2 works69×
  4. MalappuramIN · 56.6 works63×
  5. MangaluruIN · 134.2 works37×
  6. NandedIN · 39.2 works36×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies than the world average.

See Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Chengdu University of Traditional 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%20%40%mean 21.95%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Tianjin University o…Guangzhou University…Chengdu University o…Beijing University o…
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
1Beijing University of Chinese MedicineChina 66.820.5%28.5×38 +41.4%
2Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 66.529.0%16.2×14 +132.9%
3Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 64.824.9%13.6×19 +30.8%
4Guangzhou University of Chinese MedicineChina 64.127.1%13.6×18 +6.3%
5Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese MedicineChina 60.421.4%13.1×20 +22.7%
6Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical CollegeChina 57.822.5%3.5×21 +62.4%
7Harvard UniversityUnited States 54.419.2%1.5×26 -23.9%
8Chinese University of Hong KongChina 53.620.2%3.0×12 +6.6%
9Kerman University of Medical SciencesIran 53.217.8%13.0×8 +55.0%
10Kyung Hee UniversitySouth Korea 53.016.9%9.2×21 -4.1%

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 Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies, country by country

Is Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 16% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Complementary and Alternative Medicine 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 Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.029% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies0.028% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Complementary and Alternative Medicine 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%Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies10.9% 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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