Global Trends in Cannabis and Cannabidiol Research From 1940 to 2019

Legalization of Cannabis in countries like Canada and global demand for non-hallucinating chemical components such as cannabidiols have stimulated the increased interest from academics, industry and regulatory agencies. Subsequent research publication in scientific journals in this field is expected to grow rapidly. However, there have been few research reviews that have quantified patterns in research publications concerning cannabis, nor a literature-based perspective on the historical development, current status and future direction of cannabis research. Here, we performed a bibliometric analysis to address this gap in the scientific literature. A total of 1167 relevant articles (Supplementary file 1) were screened and analyzed using three software tools: HistCite, CiteSpace and Bibliometric Online Analysis Platform. The performances of relevant countries, institutions, authors and journals were presented, the evolutionary trends of different categories were revealed. The historical development of cannabis and CBD research can be clearly divided into three stages, which focus on the chemistry, pharmacology and molecular biology aspects of Cannabis sativa in general and then a focus on CBD related publications. A timeline was drawn to highlight the major trends in the literature including scientific discoveries. Lastly, several suggestions for future research directions in this field are recommended.