Objective To compare the diversities in the literature characteristics of animal experiments with acupuncture and moxibustion(acu-moxibustion) published in both Chinese and English

so as to summarize the similarities and differences in the reporting content for the animal experiment research with acu-moxibustion in the journals at home and abroad. Methods The articles of animal experiments with acu-moxibustion published from 2016 to 2018 were searched from CNKI

Wanfang

SinoMed

PubMed and Web of Science databases. The articles were screened according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria

and the database was established by importing the essential information

e.g. title

author

journal

impact factor

country

year of publication

citation frequency

funding

disease type

as well as the number of observation indicators and charts. The diversity was initially summarized among this type of articles between China and foreign countries. Results A total of 7 515 articles of animal experiments with acu-moxibustion were retrieved and 2 458 articles were eligible in compliance with the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Of them

there were 1 827 articles in Chinese and 631 in English.(1) Among those of Chinese-version

169 articles(9.25%) were published in Acupuncture Research

listed the first of the article publications. Regarding the impact factor of published journal

Acupuncture Research was ranked the highest(3.187). For those published in English

78 articles(12.36%) were published in Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

listed the top of the article publications. Gastroenterology occupied the highest in terms of the impact factor(17.373) of published journal.(2) The first authors of Chinese-version articles were all from China

distributing in 461 institutions; of which

Beijing University of Chinese Medicine occupied the top for article publications(142 articles

7.77%). For the English articles

16 countries were involved regarding the first authors

and the most of them were from China(523 articles

82.88%)

followed by South Korea

Brazil

the United States and Japan.(3) The frequency of citations of Chinese articles was 7.50

which was significantly higher than that of English ones(4.61).(4) The funding supported Chinese and English articles were 1 680(91.95%) and 569(90.17%) respectively.(5) In the aspects of disease name and animal model

135 and 220 diseases were included in Chinese and English articles respectively. The common top 10 diseases referred to 8 categories

i.e. stroke-related diseases

arthritis

Alzheimer's disease

depression

diabetes

spinal cord injury

hypertension and obesity.(6) In terms of the number of indicators

the maximum number was 6 for Chinese-version articles

averagely 2.46

while

it was 12 for English-version ones

4.02 in average.(7) Among the articles of Chinese-version

the maximum number of charts was 17

and 1 028 articles had 2 to 4 charts

accounting the largest proportion(56.27%). Among those of English-version

the top number of charts was 27

and 347 articles had 4 to 6 charts

occupying the largest proportion(54.99%). Conclusion The number of Chinese-version articles for acu-moxibustion experiment research is much higher than that of the English ones

the authorship is led by Chinese and most of the researches are supported by funds. There is less difference in the disease types between Chinese and English articles

but the frequency citation of Chinese articles is obviously higher than that of English ones; while

the numbers of observation indicators and charts in English articles are much more than those of Chinese ones. It is suggested that the great attention has been drawn on the acu-moxibustion experiment researches published in Chinese journals

and the reports of the researches are more complete in English journals.