Natural Products and Cellular Senescence Research: A Scientometric Analysis of Global Trends, Thematic Clusters, and Emerging Frontiers (2016-25)

Background: Interest in natural products-polyphenols, flavonoids, terpenoids, and related phytochemicals-as candidate senotherapeutic and geroprotective agents has expanded rapidly over the past decade, yet the literature spans pharmacology, cosmetic science, food chemistry, and model-organism biology in ways that are difficult to map through narrative review alone. This study provides a scientometric analysis of the global research landscape connecting natural products to cellular senescence and aging-related outcomes between 2016 and 2025. Methodology: Bibliographic records were retrieved from Scopus using a title-abstract-keyword boolean query combining natural-product/phytochemical terms with senescence/aging terms, restricted to English-language articles and reviews published between 2016 and 2025, yielding 7255 documents. A Python-based co-occurrence network analysis (NetworkX, Louvain community detection, scikit-learn TF-IDF cluster labeling, and Matplotlib visualization-conceptually equivalent to the coword mapping performed by VOSviewer or CiteSpace) was applied to the documents’ author keywords to identify thematic clusters, detect keyword bursts, and rank the most prolific authors and affiliations. Results: Publication output grew from 311 documents in 2016 to 1407 in 2025, an overall increase of more than 350% across the window. The keyword co-occurrence network (n=150 nodes, E=3234 edges) resolved into four clusters with a modularity of Q=0.246 and a weighted mean silhouette of S=0.328, identifying distinct research streams centered on antioxidant phytochemistry, skin-aging cosmeceuticals, model-organism longevity (Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila), and the cellular-senescence/ oxidative-stress mechanistic core. Keyword bursts in “skincare,” “collagen synthesis,” and “glycation” point to a recent shift toward translational, application-oriented framing. Author and institutional productivity is concentrated in China and Thailand. The mapped structure can help funders, journal editors, and early-career researchers identify which subthemes are mature versus emergent, and where translational gaps (for example, bioavailability and clinical validation of senolytic phytochemicals) remain underexplored relative to preclinical output. Conclusion: This is, to the authors’ knowledge, the first scientometric mapping of the natural-product– cellular-senescence literature specifically, as distinct from the broader and more heavily studied natural-products-and-aging or polyphenol-and-health literatures.