The global tendency in the research of biological activity in endophytic fungi: a scientometric analysis

Endophytic fungi colonize plants' interior tissues and organs, establishing a mutualistic relation without causing apparent harm. The biotechnological importance of these fungi has inspired research worldwide. Through scientometrics methods, it is possible to verify tendencies and gaps in different research area, collaborating with academic society to foster new studies and correlations. To identify the production of scientific knowledge relating to biological activity within endophytic fungi, we performed a survey on the platform Web of Science from studies published between 1997 and 2019 that have the following terms in the title, summary, or keywords: (Fung* AND Endophytic) AND (Bioprospecting OR Bio-prospecting OR Prospecting OR Bioactivit* OR “Biological Activit*”). A total of 458 studies were obtained, of which the following information was verified: publication year; average citations per year; journal; h-index of the journal; area of concentration; keyword and co-occurrence between them; network of collaboration between countries, institutions, and journals; bioassays realized and biological activity verified among endophytic fungi. China represents the nation-state that most frequently hosts research, followed by Brazil and India. According to our findings, the period between 2016 and 2019 showed an increase in the number of bioassays, nearly half of which (43%) proved to have antimicrobial activity, followed by anti-tumor activity (29%). These properties show that endophytic fungi can produce bioactive molecules of pharmaceutical and agronomic interest.