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Topic · Clinical Psychology

Psychedelics and Drug Studies

Psychedelics and Drug Studies is a research topic within Clinical Psychology. Science Explorer counts 13k 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 therapeutic potential of psychedelic therapy, particularly focusing on the use of substances like psilocybin and MDMA for the treatment of depression, anxiety, and substance dependence. The research delves into the neurobiology, serotonin receptors, and brain function underlying the effects of these psychedelics, as well as their ability to induce mystical experiences and promote long-lasting positive changes in psychological functioning.

  • Psilocybin
  • Psychedelics
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Therapeutic
  • Neurobiology
  • Serotonin
  • Mystical Experiences
  • Treatment
  • Brain Function
Research works
13k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+57%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
48% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Psychedelics and Drug Studies

Which countries lead Psychedelics and Drug Studies research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (1.4k and 291 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.4k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 291 works
  3. 3 Canada 256 works
  4. 4 Brazil 172 works
  5. 5 Germany 164 works
  6. 6 Australia 160 works
  7. 7 China 133 works
  8. 8 France 106 works
  9. 9 Spain 103 works
  10. 10 Italy 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.

United States: 48.1%United Kingdom: 10.2%Canada: 9.0%Brazil: 6.1%6 others listed: 26.7%48%largest
United States1,368 · 48.1%United Kingdom291 · 10.2%Canada256 · 9.0%Brazil172 · 6.1%6 others listed760 · 26.7%

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

Which institutions lead Psychedelics and Drug Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Johns Hopkins University publishes the most Psychedelics and Drug Studies research, followed by University of Toronto and Harvard University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 51 works
  2. 2 University of TorontoCanada 45 works
  3. 3 Harvard UniversityUnited States 38 works
  4. 4 Imperial College LondonUnited Kingdom 28 works
  5. 5 University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 27 works
  6. 6 Yale UniversityUnited States 27 works
  7. 7 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 24 works
  8. 8 University of ZurichSwitzerland 24 works
  9. 9 King's College LondonUnited Kingdom 24 works
  10. 10 McGill UniversityCanada 22 works

Who are the leading researchers in Psychedelics and Drug Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Psychedelics and Drug Studies include Karl John Friston, Dan J. Stein and Louisa J Degenhardt.

  1. 1 Karl John Friston United Kingdom 310k citations
  2. 2 Dan J. Stein South Africa 306k citations
  3. 3 Louisa J Degenhardt Australia 269k citations
  4. 4 Josep María Haro Spain 250k citations
  5. 5 Roger Chou United States 248k citations
  6. 6 Harvey Whiteford Australia 222k citations
  7. 7 John Joseph McGrath Australia 214k 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 Psychedelics and Drug Studies?

The most cited paper in Psychedelics and Drug Studies is "The Self-Medication Hypothesis of Substance Use Disorders: A Reconsideration and Recent Applications" (Edward J. Khantzian, 1997), with 3,223 citations. Next come "Psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer: A randomized double-blind trial" (2,248) and "Cannabis use and risk of psychotic or affective mental health outcomes: a systematic review" (2,240).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The Self-Medication Hypothesis of Substance Use Disorders: A Reconsideration and Recent Applications Edward J. Khantzian · Harvard Review of Psychiatry 1997 3,223
2 Psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer: A randomized double-blind trial Roland R. Griffiths, Matthew W. Johnson, Michael Anthony Carducci et al. · Journal of Psychopharmacology Open access 30 Nov 2016 2,248
3 Cannabis use and risk of psychotic or affective mental health outcomes: a systematic review Theresa HM Moore, Stanley Zammit, Anne R. Lingford-Hughes et al. · The Lancet Review Jul 2007 2,240
4 Psychedelics David E. Nichols · Pharmacological Reviews Open access 3 Feb 2016 1,806
5 Rapid and sustained symptom reduction following psilocybin treatment for anxiety and depression in patients with life-threatening cancer: a randomized controlled trial STEPHEN D. ROSS, Anthony P. Bossis, Jeffrey R. Guss et al. · Journal of Psychopharmacology Open access 30 Nov 2016 1,748
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Psychedelics and Drug Studies research done?

The largest centres of Psychedelics and Drug Studies research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), New York (United States), Baltimore (United States) and Toronto (Canada). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Santa Cruz, Basel and San Francisco.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 121 works
  2. 2 New YorkUnited States 79 works
  3. 3 BaltimoreUnited States 62 works
  4. 4 TorontoCanada 59 works
  5. 5 MelbourneAustralia 45 works
  6. 6 San FranciscoUnited States 44 works
  7. 7 ParisFrance 41 works
  8. 8 São PauloBrazil 35 works
  9. 9 MontrealCanada 35 works
  10. 10 BerlinGermany 31 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Santa CruzUS · 21.4 works29×
  2. BaselCH · 25.5 works11×
  3. San FranciscoUS · 43.8 works8.7×
  4. BaltimoreUS · 62.0 works6.8×
  5. New HavenUS · 29.3 works6.6×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Psychedelics and Drug Studies than the world average.

See Psychedelics and Drug Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Psychedelics and Drug Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, Johns Hopkins University, Imperial College London and University of Basel 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%30%mean 20.04%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Califo…University of BaselImperial College Lon…Johns Hopkins Univer…
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
1Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 92.821.6%9.7×51 +150.5%
2Imperial College LondonUnited Kingdom 86.723.9%8.1×28 +19.6%
3University of BaselSwitzerland 82.425.2%17.6×22 +43.4%
4University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 78.727.9%11.1×27 +258.6%
5University of ZurichSwitzerland 77.218.0%10.1×24 +70.2%
6Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic StudiesUnited States 74.323.2%1857.9×20 +361.8%
7University of TorontoCanada 72.413.0%6.5×44 +119.9%
8King's College LondonUnited Kingdom 70.015.0%8.1×24 +17.5%
9Harvard UniversityUnited States 68.316.1%3.5×38 +159.3%
10Yale UniversityUnited States 64.616.5%7.2×27 +145.3%

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 Psychedelics and Drug Studies, country by country

Is Psychedelics and Drug Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 57% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Psychedelics and Drug 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 Psychedelics and Drug Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.016% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Psychedelics and Drug Studies0.017% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Psychedelics and Drug 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%Psychedelics and Drug Studies9.8% 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.

Questions people ask

Who leads psychedelics research?

By volume in 2022-now, Johns Hopkins University publishes the most Psychedelics and Drug Studies research, followed by University of Toronto and Harvard University. By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (1.4k and 291 works in 2022-now).

How much research is there on psychedelics and psilocybin, and is it growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 57% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Psychedelics and Drug Studies.

Is Psychedelics and Drug Studies research growing?
All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

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