Bibliometric analysis of Hericium mushrooms for medicinal and food purposes: 1992−2023

Hericium mushrooms are a group of rare medicinal mushrooms that have attracted considerable attention worldwide. In order to gain insight into the current trends and frontiers of Hericium research, we conducted a comprehensive search of the Web of Science (WOS) database to identify relevant literature on Hericium research. Following an optimised search strategy and careful removal of duplicate entries, a total of 839 documents were selected from the core WOS database for bibliometric analysis. We used VOSviewer to visualize the co-occurrence network between publishing organizations, while CiteSpace allowed us to visualize and analyse the national co-occurrence network, author co-occurrence network, keyword co-linearity, keyword clustering and co-citation mapping. Our analysis revealed a significant and continuous increase in the number of publications related to Hericium mushrooms, with a peak observed in 2021. Examination of publication statistics by country (region) and institution identified China and Universiti Malaysia as the leading contributors in their respective fields, with active collaboration with other countries and institutions. The analysis of author co-occurrence suggests that inter-author communications and collaborations may be geographically limited by the research institutions to which they belong. Various keyword-based analyses highlighted the structural diversity and bioactivities of small molecule compounds derived from Hericium mushrooms, underscoring their potential health-protective effects as rare food and medicinal mushrooms. Through co-citation analysis, we identified J. Agr. Food Chem. as the most cited journal for Hericium mushroom research results, while Yoko Kawagishi of Shizuoka University (Japan) emerged as the most cited researcher in the field. Overall, our findings suggest that research into the potential anti-neurodegenerative properties of Hericium mushrooms is a promising area of investigation, with a focus on elucidating the underlying mechanisms of action.