Bibliometric Analysis of Literature in Snake Venom-Related Research Worldwide (1933-2022)

Animals (Basel). 2022 Aug 12;12(16):2058. doi: 10.3390/ani12162058.

Abstract

Snake envenomation is a severe economic and health concern affecting countries worldwide. Snake venom carries a wide variety of small peptides and proteins with various immunological and pharmacological properties. A few key research areas related to snake venom, including its applications in treating cancer and eradicating antibiotic-resistant bacteria, have been gaining significant attention in recent years. The goal of the current study was to analyze the global profile of literature in snake venom research. This study presents a bibliometric review of snake venom-related research documents indexed in the Scopus database between 1933 and 2022. The overall number of documents published on a global scale was 2999, with an average annual production of 34 documents. Brazil produced the highest number of documents (n = 729), followed by the United States (n = 548), Australia (n = 240), and Costa Rica (n = 235). Since 1963, the number of publications has been steadily increasing globally. At a worldwide level, antivenom, proteomics, and transcriptomics are growing hot issues for research in this field. The current research provides a unique overview of snake venom research at global level from 1933 through 2022, and it may be beneficial in guiding future research.

Keywords: VOSviewer; bibliometry; snake venom.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia under the Indonesian Collaborative Research (Riset Kolaborasi Indonesia) 2022 grant number 1539/UN1/DITLIT/Dit-Lit/PT.01.03/2022.