PubChem applications in drug discovery: a bibliometric analysis

• We investigated PubChem applications by a bibliometric analysis of research articles.
• PubChem resource was accessed globally for various research areas.
• PubChem was widely utilized in informatics and wet-lab studies in drug discovery.
• PubChem is a valuable resource for secondary database and tool development.
• Our analysis highlighted fields in PubChem that remain to be further explored.

A bibliometric analysis of PubChem applications is presented by reviewing 1132 research articles. The massive volume of chemical structure and bioactivity data in PubChem and its online services have been used globally in various fields including chemical biology, medicinal chemistry and informatics research. PubChem supports drug discovery in many aspects such as lead identification and optimization, compound–target profiling, polypharmacology studies and unknown chemical identity elucidation. PubChem has also become a valuable resource for developing secondary databases, informatics tools and web services. The growing PubChem resource with its public availability offers support and great opportunities for the interrogation of pharmacological mechanisms and the genetic basis of diseases, which are vital for drug innovation and repurposing.