SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Sleep Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1640198
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Advance on Sleep Disorder: Mechanisms and InterventionsView all 12 articles
Status of research on the application of melatonin in insomnia based on bibliometric visualization analysis and development trends
Provisionally accepted
Huiying Liu1
Jinying Zhao1
Wang Zhongke1Lu Chen1Yuhong Xie1
Ning Yang1
Ying Wang1Peng Zheng2*
Fuchun Wang1*- 1Department of Acupuncture and Tuina, Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, China
- 2Rehabilitation Medicine Academy, Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, China
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Objective Insomnia has long been a public health challenge, severely affecting human quality of life. Circadian rhythms are regulated in part by melatonin, and exogenous melatonin has significant therapeutic promise. This study examines global research trends, collaborative networks, and theme evolution in the field of melatonin and insomnia research from 2015 to 2024 using bibliometric visualization techniques. Method Using the terms "melatonin" and "insomnia" (as well as their synonyms in the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) database), this article looked for pertinent literature in the Web of Science Core Collection and PubMed databases. Articles published between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2024, were included in the search. VOSviewer (version 1.6.20) was used to visualize countries, institutions, journals, and authors; Citespace (version 6.3 R1) was used to visualize keywords and references. Results The two databases yielded 1,818 papers in total, of which 1,084 were included following screening. Even though there are annual variations, the general trend is upward. The institutions and nations with the most publications among them are Harvard Medical School and the United States. The author with the most publications is Bruni O. The most significant co-citation frequency is found in Morin C.M. Among the cited references, Gringas P. (2017) has the most citations. Frontiers in Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine are the journals with the most publications. Conclusion This is a provisional file, not the final typeset article Melatonin has been used mainly to treat insomnia in children, the elderly, and people with neurological disorders during the last ten years. Further, a trend for future research in this area is the convergence of insomnia with comorbidities like neurological disorders, cancer, and pain medication.
Keywords: Insomnia1, Melatonin2, diseases3, Mechanism4, brains5
Received: 03 Jun 2025; Accepted: 08 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Zhao, Zhongke, Chen, Xie, Yang, Wang, Zheng and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Peng Zheng, Rehabilitation Medicine Academy, Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, China
Fuchun Wang, Department of Acupuncture and Tuina, Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, China
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