Visualization analysis of the international standard ISO/TC 249 for traditional Chinese medicine

Objective This study proposes to visually review the current situation and progress of standards sets by the International Organization for Standardization/Technical Committee on Traditional Chinese Medicine(ISO/TC 249). The review aims to explore the development strategies of the standards, which will exhibit the considerable impact on the economy, trade and exchanges, and cooperation in the area of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM).Methods ISO/TC 249 standards were searched on the ISO website, and their title, proposed time, current stage, scope, and classification were obtained for further summarization. Gephi was utilized to portray the co-occurrence network graph of the ISO/TC 249 standards subject.Results In ISO/TC 249, there were 116 standards, including 81 published standards and 35 developing standards by April 30, 2022. Two withdrawal standards were published after revision, which were not counted in the total standards. The number of published standards has been increasing since the first standard was published in 2014, whose title was “Sterile acupuncture needles for single use”. Among these standards, 17.24%(20/116) standards were in review, 56.03%(65/116) in publication, 3.45%(4/116) in approval, 5.17%(6/116) in enquiry,3.45%(4/116) in committee, and 14.66%(17/116) in preparation, respectively. With 116 standards, most of the research focused on the medicament, as its classification of the International Classification for Standards(ICS) showed the proportion reaching 49.54%. The network analysis data revealed that the top five most frequent words were “materials” “root” “requirements” “products” and “system”, after removing the noise data, such as prepositions,conjunctions, and pronouns. Additionally, the word “system” co-exists with the terms “computerized” “coding” “image” “tongue” and “analysis”;the word “requirement” co-exists with“manufacturing” “decoction” “process” and “materials”;whereas the word “devices” coexists with “pulse” “electric” “skin” and “measurement”.Conclusion With the increased diversification and complexity of problems, the development of standards is also oriented to multidisciplinary fields to cultivate the interdisciplinary talents, and especially the international standardization talents of compound TCM. Multi-angle analysis, formulation, and demonstration of standards, in line with industry needs in different disciplines, enhance the availability of standards and the ability to serve the industry.

Current Situation of International Organization for Standardization/Technical Committee 249 International Standards of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Objective： To review the current situation and progress of traditional Chinese medicine（TCM） international standards, standard projects and proposals in International Organization for Standardization（ISO）/technical committee（TC） 249. Methods： ISO/TC 249 standards and standard projects on the ISO website were searched and new standard proposals information were collected from ISO/TC 249 National Mirror Committee in China. Then all the available data were summarized in 5 closely related items, including proposed time, proposed country, assigned working group（WG）, current stage and classification. Results： In ISO/TC 249, there were 2 international standards, 18 standard projects and 24 new standard proposals proposed in 2014. These 44 standard subjects increased year by year since 2011. Twenty-nine of them were proposed by China, 15 were assigned to WG 4, 36 were in preliminary and preparatory stage and 8 were categorized into 4 fields, 7 groups and sub-groups based on International Classification Standards. Conclusion： A rapid and steady development of international standardization in TCM can be observed in ISO/TC 249.