Mapping the exponential growth and evolution of cannabis research through data-driven analysis
Once considered a controversial substance, cannabis has blossomed into one of the most dynamic and rapidly expanding fields of scientific inquiry.
As countries around the world liberalize cannabis policies, researchers are racing to understand this complex plant's chemistry, medical applications, and agricultural potential. The scale of this research explosion is staggering—what was once a niche subject has grown into a robust global scientific discipline publishing thousands of studies annually.
This article explores the fascinating evolution of cannabis science through the lens of bibliometric analysis, which maps the growth, focus, and impact of scientific literature. Join us as we unravel how scientific interest in cannabis has shifted from prohibition to potential, creating a vibrant new field of study that bridges agriculture, medicine, and public policy.
Optimizing growth, yield, and cannabinoid production
Therapeutic potential for various medical conditions
International research networks and knowledge sharing
The data reveals a dramatic story of scientific interest in cannabis. According to a bibliometric analysis of 7,841 documents published between 2012 and 2022, cannabis research experienced an impressive annual growth rate of 16.83%4 . This extraordinary expansion reflects both increasing scientific curiosity and the changing legal landscape surrounding cannabis worldwide.
The sheer volume of recent publications is overwhelming. A simple PubMed search for "(cannabis OR Cannabinoid*) AND (therapy OR treatment)" returned over 25,600 results by March 2025—more than eight times the number available in the year 2000, which had just 2,866 publications3 . This year alone, scientists have published hundreds of peer-reviewed studies exploring nearly every facet of the plant and its compounds1 .
Data sourced from PubMed database3
The bibliometric data reveals fascinating patterns in international research collaboration. While the United States and Canada initially dominated the field, other countries have steadily increased their contributions. Morocco, for instance, demonstrated a remarkable annual growth rate of 14.31% in cannabis research publications, with 51.72% of these studies involving international collaborations4 .
This trend toward global cooperation highlights how cannabis science has transcended national boundaries to become a truly international endeavor. Researchers across continents are pooling expertise and resources to accelerate our understanding of this complex plant.
Early cannabis research primarily focused on agricultural aspects—optimizing growth, yield, and cannabinoid production. While these remain important topics, the scientific emphasis has dramatically shifted toward therapeutic applications. Bibliometric analysis reveals that nearly 76% of recent cannabis papers fall within medical and life science disciplines, including pharmacology, toxicology, pharmaceutics, biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, and neuroscience4 .
The most frequently studied conditions in cannabis research include pain (3,701 publications), cancer (2,244 publications), anxiety (1,719 publications), seizures (1,484 publications), and inflammation (1,371 publications)3 . This therapeutic focus reflects the growing interest in cannabis as a potential treatment for numerous medical conditions.
Data from Medical Cannabis Library analysis3
While THC and CBD continue to dominate the research landscape, scientists are increasingly investigating lesser-known cannabinoids. The year 2025 alone has seen numerous studies on cannabigerol (CBG), cannabichromene (CBC), tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV), and cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), exploring their potential therapeutic benefits for conditions ranging from drug-resistant infections to metabolic disorders1 2 .
This expansion beyond the most famous cannabinoids reflects a maturation of the field as researchers recognize the diverse pharmacological potential within the cannabis plant's complex chemical ecology.
Bibliometric analysis clearly identifies the countries leading cannabis research. The United States has produced the largest volume of publications, followed by Canada, the United Kingdom, and Italy4 . This dominance reflects both earlier legalization of medical cannabis in these countries and substantial research funding allocations.
Perhaps more interestingly, countries with traditional cannabis cultivation histories—including Morocco, Jamaica, and India—are increasingly contributing to the scientific literature rather than just agricultural practice. This transition from traditional knowledge to peer-reviewed research represents an important development in the legitimization of cannabis science.
Based on bibliometric analysis4
The data clearly demonstrates that policy changes dramatically affect research productivity. Countries and states that have legalized medical cannabis have seen significant increases in publication output following legalization. For example, after Canada's federal legalization of cannabis, research institutions expanded their cannabis studies, particularly focusing on public health aspects of legalization5 .
This correlation between legal accessibility and research productivity underscores how policy decisions directly shape scientific progress—a rare instance where legislative changes can so directly and measurably impact research trajectories.
Limited research primarily focused on abuse potential and agricultural aspects
Medical cannabis legalization in several U.S. states and other countries drives increased therapeutic research
Canada's federal legalization and increasing global acceptance accelerate research output and diversification
Despite rapid growth, cannabis research faces significant methodological challenges. A 2024 workshop convened by the Colorado School of Public Health identified pervasive problems in cannabis research methodology, particularly regarding how researchers assess and report the cannabis products used in their studies5 8 .
The complexity of cannabis as a research subject is substantial. Unlike traditional pharmaceuticals with consistent compositions, cannabis products vary enormously in their cannabinoid profiles, terpene content, and delivery methods. This variability makes comparing results across studies particularly challenging—a problem that bibliometric analysis clearly reveals through the inconsistent methodologies documented in the literature.
Workshop participants proposed concrete solutions to these methodological challenges, including:
Developing a core set of exposure assessment measures for all epidemiological and surveillance studies8
Establishing standard dosing and terminology for clinical cannabis research8
Creating validated reference materials for laboratory testing9
Implementing regular updates to research protocols to keep pace with the rapidly evolving cannabis marketplace8
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed tools to address these challenges, including the Cannabis Laboratory Quality Assurance Program (CannaQAP) and reference materials to help standardize chemical analysis across laboratories9 .
As the volume of cannabis research exploded, scientists and clinicians faced a growing problem: how to navigate and make sense of thousands of publications with conflicting results and varied methodologies. This challenge inspired researchers to develop the Medical Cannabis Library (MCL)—a curated database designed to simplify access to cannabis-related therapeutic research3 .
The development team employed sophisticated bibliometric and natural language processing techniques to create this resource:
Researchers first compiled a list of 74 cannabinoids and their synonyms, then retrieved all relevant publications from PubMed where these compounds were mentioned in titles or abstracts3 .
The team manually analyzed the top 100 medical conditions studied, filtering out overly general terms and focusing specifically on therapeutic applications rather than abuse potential3 .
Using natural language processing, the system automatically categorized the relationship between cannabinoids and medical conditions as positive, negative, or neutral3 .
The final product allows users to search by diseases, conditions, symptoms, syndromes, and specific cannabinoids, receiving filtered, relevant results rather than undifferentiated search queries3 .
Curated therapeutic studies
Unique medical conditions
Cannabinoid-disease pairs
Pain studies (most researched)
Data from Medical Cannabis Library project3
The Medical Cannabis Library ultimately consolidated 11,441 relevant publications from PubMed, focusing specifically on cannabinoids as therapeutic agents. These publications were further subdivided into 48,461 individual "studies" representing specific cannabinoid-disease pairs3 .
This project demonstrates how bibliometric analysis and computational tools can transform a disorganized body of literature into a structured, accessible resource for researchers and clinicians. It also highlights the immense complexity of cannabis science—with nearly 50,000 documented relationships between cannabinoids and medical conditions already identified in the scientific literature.
Modern cannabis researchers rely on a growing set of standardized tools and materials to ensure their work produces reliable, reproducible results.
Standardize chemical analysis across laboratories
Ensure measurement comparability between labs
Harmonize exposure assessment across studies
Enable early sex determination in cannabis plants
As noted in a recent workshop, "research on these products is still limited and the evidence available for policy formulation is diminished by methodological limitations"5 . Future studies will need to address these potent new products.
Research is increasingly focusing on the entourage effect—how multiple cannabis compounds work together. Studies have found that "full-spectrum cannabis extract outperformed isolated CBD in reducing inflammatory markers"7 , supporting continued investigation of whole-plant formulations.
As the field matures, increasing attention is being paid to ensuring that countries with traditional cannabis knowledge but limited research infrastructure can contribute to and benefit from the growing science.
The bibliometric analysis of cannabis research reveals a field in rapid transition—from controversial topic to mainstream scientific discipline. As researchers develop more standardized methodologies and collaborative networks, our understanding of this complex plant will continue to deepen, potentially unlocking new therapeutic applications and sustainable cultivation practices.
The bibliometric story of cannabis research is one of remarkable transformation.
What began as a small, marginalized field has blossomed into a robust global scientific discipline with exponential growth and increasingly sophisticated methodologies. The numbers tell a clear story: cannabis science has matured from fringe topic to legitimate field of study with the potential to contribute significantly to medicine, agriculture, and our understanding of plant-human interactions.
As research continues to expand and evolve, the bibliometric synthesis provides both a map of where we've been and a compass pointing toward future discoveries. With increasing standardization, global collaboration, and methodological sophistication, cannabis science appears poised to continue its rapid development—potentially offering new treatments for challenging medical conditions and sustainable alternatives to traditional crops. The green research revolution is well underway, and the bibliometric evidence suggests it's only gaining momentum.
References to be added manually in this section.