## 2 Bibliometric Analysis  
### Bibliometric Mapping and Analysis  
Data collection was based on scientific articles published and indexed in the WoS. A WoS search was conducted to obtain the bibliographic data inputs on 3 March 2025. The research in the central collection of WoS was carried out in the \"advanced search\" section,applying the following logical operation: TS = ('antimicrobial' AND'mechanism* action' OR'mode action' AND 'plant\" AND 'active compound*) NOT KP = ('antimicrobial' AND'mechanism* action' OR'mode action' AND 'plant*' AND 'active compound*). This means that the publications are selected based on the chosen words included in the title, the abstract, and the author's keywords, and not on the keywords-plus of each document, thus avoiding mismatches related to the terms that only appeared in the references and did not correspond to the main study topic. Book Chapters, Proceeding Papers, Early Access Articles, and Retracted Publications were excluded from the search. Publications between 2004 and 2024 were analyzed, providing results corresponding to all records available in WoS, resulting in 8812 documents. Data were exported as BibTeX (dataset_wos.bib) and Research Information Systems (dataset_wos.ris) files using the \"Record Content: Full Record\" option. The analysis was performed with the software VOSviewer v. 1.6.20 and with software R-package bibliometrix version 4.1.4 [26] for the scientific mapping analysis, using R version 4.1.2 as the programming language (2021-11-01) [27] and R-studio (version 2023.09.1) as the integrated development environment [28]. The analysis was carried out using the function bibliosiny(). Table 1 shows the primary information about the data on academic production from 2004 to 2024. Regarding document growth and distribution, the analysis revealed an impressive average annual growth rate of 13.84%, indicating a constant increase in document production over time. This growth may be due to factors such as increased interest in research, technological advances, or changes in academic policies that encourage publication. With 8812 documents analyzed, it can be inferred that there is considerable research activity within the area studied. The average age of the papers is 7.01 years, suggesting that most of the research is focused on relatively recent topics. Regarding citations and academic relevance, the average of 32.03 citations per document indicates significant impact and recognition in the academic community. These data can be interpreted as an indication of the relevance and contribution of the papers to the scientific literature. However, it would be helpful to analyze the distribution of these citations better to understand the variability in the influence of individual documents. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**Description** & **Results** \\ \hline Timespan & 2004–2024 \\ Sources (Journals, Books, etc.) & 1698 \\ Documents & 8812 \\ Annual Growth Rate \% & 13.84 \\ Document Average Age & 7.01 \\ Average citations per doc & 32.03 \\ DOCUMENT CONTENTS & \\ Keywords Plus (ID) & 15,722 \\ Author’s Keywords (DE) & 17,417 \\ AUTHORS & \\ Authors & 42,819 \\ Authors of single-authored docs & 134 \\ AUTHORS COLLABORATION & \\ Single-authored docs & 142 \\ Co-Authors per doc & 7.23 \\ International co-authorships \% & 29.35 \\ DOCUMENT TYPES & \\ Article & 8716 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Main information about the data. Collaboration among authors plays a key role in international academic research. The fact that 29.35% of the documents involve international collaborations suggests a broad and diverse network of connections between researchers from different world regions. This international collaboration can enrich the quality of research by providing diverse perspectives and approaches. Finally, regarding the keywords and research topics, 15,722 keywords were identified, suggesting a wide variety of issues within the study area.