This bibliometric analysis (2021) sought to characterize and visualize trends in the top-cited 100 articles in the field of psychedelics. 54% of articles were published from 2010-2020 while they were cited between 82 and 668 times. The results are discussed in terms of growth, access and diversity within the field and ultimately provide insight into the second wave of psychedelics research as a whole.
Abstract
“Psychedelics were used in the treatment of psychiatric conditions prior to their prohibition in the late 1960s. In the past three decades, there is a revived research interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs with expected FDA approvals for the treatment of various conditions. Given the exponential scientific growth of this field, we sought to characterize, analyze, and visualize trends in its top-cited articles. Bibliometric analyses are quantitative approaches to characterize a scientific field, including evaluation of the impact of academic literature. The bibliometric analysis and visualizations were conducted with R-tools for comprehensive science mapping. The top-cited 100 articles were cited between 82 and 668 times (median 125; mean 158). Fifty-four per cent of the T100 articles were produced in the past decade (2010–2020). Network and author impact analysis highlighted key figures and primary collaboration networks within the top 100 publications. UK, USA, Switzerland, Spain, and Brazil lead the field. Results are discussed in terms of research growth, access, diversity, and the distribution of knowledge and experience in the field. These aggregated data and insights on the second wave of psychedelic research facilitate research evaluation, data-driven funding policies, and a practical map for researchers and clinicians entering the field.”
Authors: Aviad Hadar, Jonathan David, Nadav Shalit, Leor Roseman, Raz Gross, Ben Sessa & Shuan Lev-Ran
Summary of The Psychedelic Renaissance in Clinical Research: A Bibliometric Analysis of Three Decades of Human Studies with Classical Psychedelics
Introduction
In the past two decades, psychedelic drugs have been studied in various scientific frameworks, including clinical trials for various mental health conditions, neuroimaging studies in healthy humans, psychotherapeutic interventions, basic science, and animal studies, and traditional therapeutic settings.
Psychedelic research is becoming a high impact scientific field within the contemporary medical literature, but it remains unclear whether this growth is distributed globally or specific to a limited number of scientists under the support of a few academic research institutions and non-governmental organizations.
Study details
Topics studied
Equity and Ethics
Study characteristics
Meta-Analysis
Literature Review
Participants
0
Humans
Authors
Authors associated with this publication with profiles on Blossom
Leor RosemanLeor Roseman is a researcher at the Centre for Psychedelic Research, Imperial College London. His work focussed on psilocybin for depression, but is now related to peace-building through psychedelics.
Ben Sessa
Ben Sessa is psychedelics researcher, psychotherapist, advocate for legalization, author, co-founder of Breaking Convention, and Chief Medical Officer at AWAKN Life Sciences.
Institutes
Institutes associated with this publication
Tel Aviv UniversityThe Institute for Integrative Psychedelic Research at Tel Aviv University (IPR-TLV) aims to revolutionize mental health through the interdisciplinary study of psychedelics.