Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Plant Science

Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies

Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies is a research topic within Plant Science. Science Explorer counts 22k 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 focuses on the traditional ecological knowledge and ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants, highlighting their cultural importance, phytochemical constituents, and potential for drug discovery. It explores the use of medicinal plants in traditional medicine, their conservation, and sustainable utilization. The papers also discuss the role of plant-derived compounds in pharmacological studies and the integration of herbal medicine with modern healthcare.

  • Traditional Ecological Knowledge
  • Medicinal Plants
  • Ethnobotanical Survey
  • Drug Discovery
  • Phytochemical Constituents
  • Herbal Medicine
  • Ethnopharmacological Study
  • Cultural Importance Indices
  • Plant-Derived Compounds
  • Conservation and Sustainable Use
Research works
22k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+31%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
India
52% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies

Which countries lead Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies research?

By volume, India and Nigeria publish the most (2.3k and 421 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 India 2.3k works
  2. 2 Nigeria 421 works
  3. 3 United States 277 works
  4. 4 Brazil 249 works
  5. 5 Germany 226 works
  6. 6 South Africa 226 works
  7. 7 Pakistan 187 works
  8. 8 Georgia 187 works
  9. 9 China 182 works
  10. 10 Indonesia 164 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: 52.0%Nigeria: 9.6%United States: 6.3%Brazil: 5.6%6 others listed: 26.6%52%largest
India2,293 · 52.0%Nigeria421 · 9.6%United States277 · 6.3%Brazil249 · 5.6%6 others listed1,173 · 26.6%

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

Which institutions lead Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Ilia State University publishes the most Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies research, followed by Botanical Survey of India and State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Ilia State UniversityGeorgia 186 works
  2. 2 Botanical Survey of IndiaIndia 182 works
  3. 3 State Museum of Natural History KarlsruheGermany 180 works
  4. 4 Council of Scientific and Industrial ResearchIndia 49 works
  5. 5 Mohamed I UniversityMorocco 45 works
  6. 6 Indian Council of Agricultural ResearchIndia 40 works
  7. 7 Indian Council of Forestry Research and EducationIndia 35 works
  8. 8 G.S. Science, Arts And Commerce CollegeIndia 33 works
  9. 9 Tribhuvan UniversityNepal 33 works
  10. 10 Missouri Botanical GardenUnited States 31 works

Who are the leading researchers in Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies include Martin McKee, Amirhossein Sahebkar and Didier Raoult.

  1. 1 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k citations
  2. 2 Amirhossein Sahebkar Iran 258k citations
  3. 3 Didier Raoult France 232k 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 Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies?

The most cited paper in Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies is "Plant Products as Antimicrobial Agents" (Marjorie Murphy Cowan, 1999), with 9,046 citations. Next come "Biological effects of essential oils – A review" (7,885) and "Medicinal plants: Traditions of yesterday and drugs of tomorrow" (2,400).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Plant Products as Antimicrobial Agents Marjorie Murphy Cowan · Clinical Microbiology Reviews Open access Oct 1999 9,046
2 Biological effects of essential oils – A review Fadil Bakkali, Simone Averbeck, Dietrich Averbeck et al. · Food and Chemical Toxicology Open access Oct 2007 7,885
3 Medicinal plants: Traditions of yesterday and drugs of tomorrow Ameenah Gurib‐Fakim · Molecular Aspects of Medicine 19 Aug 2005 2,400
4 The value of plants used in traditional medicine for drug discovery. Daniel S. Fabricant, Norman R. Farnsworth · Environmental Health Perspectives Open access Mar 2001 2,052
5 Medicinal plants of India with anti-diabetic potential J.K Grover, Savita Yadav, Vaibhav Vats · Journal of Ethnopharmacology Jun 2002 1,799
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies research done?

The largest centres of Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies research in 2022-now are Kolkata (India), Tbilisi (Georgia), Karlsruhe (Germany) and New Delhi (India). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Tbilisi, Srīnagar and Haridwar.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 KolkataIndia 223 works
  2. 2 TbilisiGeorgia 186 works
  3. 3 KarlsruheGermany 181 works
  4. 4 New DelhiIndia 133 works
  5. 5 ChennaiIndia 80 works
  6. 6 Dehra DūnIndia 68 works
  7. 7 PretoriaSouth Africa 57 works
  8. 8 LucknowIndia 53 works
  9. 9 GuwahatiIndia 50 works
  10. 10 HyderabadIndia 49 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. TbilisiGE · 186.4 works66×
  2. SrīnagarIN · 20.9 works47×
  3. HaridwarIN · 21.2 works44×
  4. OujdaMA · 44.8 works40×
  5. Port ElizabethZA · 28.9 works40×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies than the world average.

See Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, Addis Ababa University, King Saud University and Debre Markos University score highest, combining citation 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 24.24%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →King Saud UniversityDebre Markos Univers…Addis Ababa UniversityAcademy of Scientifi…
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.

Citation 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
1Addis Ababa UniversityEthiopia 71.926.2%13.9×20 +34.4%
2King Saud UniversitySaudi Arabia 69.931.1%3.5×20 +50.7%
3Debre Markos UniversityEthiopia 61.827.1%27.7×9 +129.1%
4Academy of Scientific and Innovative ResearchIndia 61.725.2%8.4×16 +95.9%
5Mahasarakham UniversityThailand 60.131.4%16.2×10 +112.5%
6University of GondarEthiopia 60.029.2%12.8×11 +1.1%
7Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah UniversityMorocco 59.819.9%8.4×14 +53.5%
8North-West UniversitySouth Africa 53.928.1%6.1×10 -3.6%
9Ilia State UniversityGeorgia 53.70.8%398.7×186 -9.6%
10Makerere UniversityUganda 53.623.4%10.9×12 -6.9%

Universities only. The score blends citation 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 Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies, country by country

Is Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 31% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants 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 Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.032% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies0.030% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants 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%Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies10.3% 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.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies. Keep it to the research: no personal attacks, advertising or links. Any reader can report a post, which collapses it for everyone until it is opened.