RT Article
T1 Asymmetry in Psychoactive Research: A Bibliometric Study on 15 Psychoactive Drugs
JF Journal of drug issues
VO 52
IS 4
SP 509
OP 526
A1 Lebrero-Tatay, Julia
A2 Sebag, Arthur
A2 Ezquerra-Romano, Ivan
LA English
YR 2022
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1815830115
AB Although intended to avoid illicit drug use, national laws and international conventions have limited research on psychoactive drugs. To characterise the evolution of the literature on psychoactive drugs, a bibliometric study of 15 psychoactive drugs from 1960 to 2018 was conducted in which 956,703 academic publications were obtained from Web of Science. Growth patterns were analysed per drug type, legal status and country. Our results show the existence of heterogeneous patterns of growth for the publications of different psychoactive drugs. Strikingly, the literature on legal substances and depressants represented between 60% and 80% throughout the years. We found unexpected regional differences in the scientific output about the selected drugs, which might be explained by cultural and political phenomena. Governments and funding bodies should consider these results when allocating resources to research on psychoactive drugs to optimise the therapeutic applications of these compounds and our understanding of the nervous system.
K1 depressants
K1 controlled substances
K1 bibliometric study
K1 recreational drugs
DO 10.1177/00220426211068439