Three Decades of Research on the Development of Ibogaine Treatment of Substance Use Disorders: A Scientometric Analysis.
Journal of psychoactive drugs – January 01, 2024
Source: PubMed
Summary
Global interest in Ibogaine for substance use disorders is rapidly expanding. A scientometric analysis, utilizing tools like CiteSpace and vosviewer, explored the evolving research landscape of Ibogaine as a potential treatment. Analyzing over 1500 publications across three decades revealed a significant increase in global research activity. This growth highlights Ibogaine's potential, with recent trends focusing on its role among psychedelics for treating opioid and other substance use disorders. This widespread, growing attention underscores its promising therapeutic future.
Abstract
Ibogaine is a natural psychoactive drug that has been investigated for its potential role in the treatment of substance use disorders since the mid-1960s. To evaluate the interest in ibogaine's use as a therapeutic agent, we performed a scientometric analysis covering the last three decades (1993-2002, 2003-2012, and 2013-2022). A complementary analysis was performed to select and describe published clinical trials and meta-analyses. A total of 1523 references were found. Linear growth of publications in the first and third decades were identified, and the average number of publications from 1993 to 2002 was lower than that in the other two decades. Researchers from five continents were identified. Globally, academic research centers in the United States and Canada were the most productive. Cocaine, tobacco, morphine, and alcohol prevailed as major keywords in the first two decades and opioids and psychedelics were included in the third decade. A few key authors were the most co-referenced. One preclinical meta-analysis and no meta-analysis in humans were found. Research trends for ibogaine are widespread, growing, and consonant with current attentiveness in drug abuse. Our findings support the pressing need for rigorous clinical research on ibogaine to evaluate its efficacy and safety.