Visualizing the thematic structure of MS in Traditional Medicine: A scientometric study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system which is the most common non-traumatic disabling disease affecting young adults and with a multifactorial etiology. Besides, a combination of genetic and environmental factors is involved in its development. Scientometric studies are extensively used for evaluating the executive performance of higher education institutions. These evaluations are especially important to show the effects of scientific products of medical and paramedical sciences in developing countries. OBJECTIVE This study aims to add to previous analyses and describe the trends in MS research from three decades, 2004 to 2019 through assessing the medical literature. Additionally, a collaboration network was analyzed to determine the most common process in development of MS research. METHODS This research was a descriptive survey with a scientometric approach. The data for the present study were collected from the Web of Science (WoS) and search strategy based on Medical Subject.Heading (MeSH) term. In this research, the data analysis was performed based on collaboration network and theme analysis. RESULTS In this study, 223 original articles were collected from 1954 to 2019. Meanwhile, a total of 6024 citations were reported and 27 were represented average h-index. The present study showed that the research conducted in these three periods has led to a more accurate understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms associated with MS. Therapies used to control the MS symptoms are attempts to control the immune system's reactions to control patients' symptoms and to prevent inflammation, demyelination, and eventually neurodegeneration. Oligodendrocytes are myelin-producing cells and play a key role in the pathophysiology of MS. CONCLUSIONS Therefore, therapies that can increase the survival of these cells and oligodendrocyte progenitor cells can prevent oligodendrocyte apoptosis, and logically will be used as new therapeutic goals in the future. This trend of MS will be road map in research future.