## 3 Literature Search
### Evaluation of Clinical Trials (Jadad, Delphi, and Cochrane Scale)  
Three different scales, i.e., Jadad, Delphi, and Cochrane, were used in this study to evaluate clinical trials individually as per the items mentioned in the scales (Table 3). Each scale evaluated the quality of a clinical trial on certain specific key features mentioned in the table, where most of the items were overlapping/common for the three scales. Every scale possessed positive as well as negative aspects in terms of evaluation criteria and it is worth mentioning that no \"best-fit scale\" exists to critically analyze a clinical trial; hence, the three scales were applied together for assessing the quality of each clinical trial. This step may help cover the deficiencies present in a scale. In addition, as Jadad is the only scale that uses a scale (0-5) to assign score to a study, whereas Delphi and Cochrane lack a scoring system. For the sake of simplicity and ease of calculation/comparative scoring, we assigned an internal score to each item of the Delphi (0-9) and Cochrane scale (0-10). This summed up the total score for the three scales as being between 0 and 24 [18]. All the clinical trials included in this study were assessed and scored using the three scales and an individual as well as final score were assigned for classification of the clinical trials. Table 4 shows in detail all the items present in the three scales and the deficiencies observed for individual clinical trials according to the items in each scale. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline
**Herb** & **Botanical Name** & **Part/s Used** & **Ethnopharmacological Relevance** \\ \hline Aloe & _Aloe vera_ & leaves, dried sap (fluid), extracted gel & breast cancer in Palestine [19] and lung cancer in a Pakistan community [20] \\ Black seeds & _Nigella sativa_ & seeds & general/colorectal cancer in Morocco [21] and Bangladesh [22] \\ _Boswellia serata_ & _Boswellia serata_ & bark & general cancers in Near East region [23] and India [24] \\ Chamomile & _Matrici saueris tenckons koch_ & flowers & lung, liver, and prostate cancer in Palestine [19, 25] \\ Colocynth & _Cirulls lantens_ & fruit & general cancer treatments in Pakistan [25] and India [24] \\ Garlic & _Alliman sativem_ & bulb, leaves & general cancers in Morocco [21] and treatment of lung, esophageal, and breast cancers in Palestine [19] \\ Ginger & _Zingher officinal_ & rhizome & general cancers in Morocco [21] and stomach cancer in Palestine [19] \\ Onion & _Alliman cpu_ & leaves, bulb, oil and seeds & skin cancers in Ghana [26] and general cancers in Jordan [27] \\ Pomegranate & _Punician genatumatum_ & fruit, rind & general cancers in Venem [28] and skin cancers in Morocco [21] \\ Semna & _Cassist semna_ & leaves & general cancer treatments in India [29, 30] \\ Terephthal & _Pistaci terephthalus_ & resin, branches, fruit & Islamic traditional medicine [31] and general cancer in Turkey [32] \\ Thyme & _Thymus vulgaris_ & leaves & head, lung, colorectal cancer in Turkey [33] and breast cancer in Palestine [34] \\ Wheat & _Tritcium aestivum_ & shoot & general cancer [35] and breast/colorectal cancers in Trinidad [36] \\ Wormwood & _Artemisia abtbrevia_ & leaves & general/digestive cancers in Turkey and Morocco [21, 37] \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Literature regarding ethnopharmacological relevance of the plants used in cancer.