Three Decades of Research on the Development of Ibogaine Treatment of Substance Use Disorders: A Scientometric Analysis

Introduction

Worldwide burden from substance use disorders (SUDs) remains substantial: earlier estimates cited in the paper put global users at 5.5% of the population and around 271 million people with SUDs, with cocaine, tobacco, heroin, alcohol and other opioids among the most common substances. Existing pharmacotherapies do not fully address morbidity, mortality and economic costs, prompting interest in alternative or adjunctive approaches. Ibogaine, an indole alkaloid derived from African plants, was identified in the mid-1960s as having anti‑addictive properties and has been investigated for opioid and stimulant addiction; a synthetic congener, 18‑methoxycoronaridine (18‑MC), has been evaluated in animal work. Safety concerns—most notably toxicity, hallucinogenic effects, risk of cardiac arrhythmias and reported fatalities—have limited clinical development and sustained debate about therapeutic use. Fernandes‑Nascimento and colleagues set out to map the scientific literature on ibogaine for SUD treatment over the last three decades (1993–2022) using a scientometric approach. The stated aim was to quantify publication trends, identify influential authors, organisations and countries, and characterise topical shifts (for example, keywords) across three ten‑year periods. A complementary screening was performed to select and describe any human randomised clinical trials and systematic reviews with meta‑analyses indexed in SCOPUS.