Research on Identification of Mineral Medicines Based on Bibliometrics and Knowledge Mapping

Abstract

Objective: To provide a more accurate and effective method for mineral medicine users by summarizing the research status and existing problems of mineral medicine identification after literature analysis of domestic mineral medicine identification studies. Methods: The mineral medicine identification-themed literatures were searched from CNKI and subjected to statistical analysis with bibliometrics, word frequency analysis and knowledge mapping. Results: A total of 790 valid literatures were retrieved, and the number of literatures showed a general rising trend. The 46 productive authors and 10 core journals were found. The cooperation network of productive authors was analyzed, and seven identification methods applicable to mineral medicines were summarized. Conclusion: The development of modern science and technology has promoted the progress in mineral medicine identification methods. Researchers in the field of mineral medicine identification have gradually increased, and they tend to choose team cooperation and intra-institution cooperation. The main identification methods of mineral medicine can be found by using knowledge mapping. Mineral medicine refers to the traditional medicine mainly composed of mineral ingredients, including a large amount of inorganic minerals and a few natural organic minerals or organic rocks (such as amber, asphalt) and artefacts [1]. Since ancient times, mineral medicine plays an important role in the clinical application of Chinese medicine with its unique medicinal value. Take cinnabar as an example. As recorded in "Compendium of Materia Medica"[2]: "cinnabar can cure epilepsy, detoxify fetal, pox toxicities, drive malaria and induce perspiration.†As pointed out in "Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China" of 2015 edition (ChP 2015 I), cinnabar has the following functions: “clearing away the heart fire, relieving convulsion, soothing the nerves, detoxification. It is suitable for treatment of palpitation, skittishness, insomnia and dreaminess, epilepsy and delirium, infantile convulsions, blurred vision, mouth ulcer, pharyngitis, swelling and toxin of sores.†However, cinnabar is toxic. To protect the clinical drug safety, avoid threat to the body life posed by adulterated or counterfeit drugs, identification is needed for authenticity, pros and cons of drugs. At present, in addition to the traditional four identification methods, X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy methods have gradually been widely used for mineral medicine identification. Each method has its unique advantages and also shortcomings. Appropriate identification method should be chosen for different mineral medicines. In this paper, based on domestic researchers’ literature on various mineral medicine identification methods, the status of mineral medicine identification research is summarized to find a law to sort out appropriate identification method for each mineral medicine and provide references to the researchers.