Exploratory Structural Analysis on Eight Positions for New Formulations in Jingyuequanshu by Network Analysis

Background: Eight positions for new formulations in Jingyuequanshu is a unique classifying system and each position can be presented as a network. Network analysis is an effective method of visualizing the relationship of textual information. Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the structure of the eight positions for new formulations in Jingyuequanshu, and to acquire information about composing materia medica. Methods: We constructed an initial database and binary matrix of eight positions for new formulation in Jingyuequanshu, including its herbs and formulations. With this data, we carried out frequency and network analysis. Results: We analyzed each of the eight positions for new formulation, entire positions, and five positions after removing ‘causal/cold/hot’ positions. We found that the formulas of the causal position are distributed throughout the new formulation, and those of the cold and hot positions are also distributed similarly but the two groups are exclusive to each other. The other 5 positions are distributed exclusively to one another. Conclusions: Eight positions for new formulation of Jingyuequanshu were classified into three axes by exploratory network analysis. One is an axis of causal position, another is an axis of cold/hot positions, and the last is an axis of the other five positions.