To understand the evolution of the concept of chemical space and its applications, a meta-analysis of the literature has been performed using the search terms "chemical space" and "drug design" in PubMed (). In total, the search yielded 1538 articles (November 2021) that were analyzed using VOSviewer . The results of the meta-analysis indicated that the main concurrent terms associated with the keywords used were SAR analysis and small-molecule library design (Figure ). Visualization of chemical space has been used frequently to support the analysis of antineoplastic agents (76 articles), protein kinase inhibitors , antibacterials , antimalarials , and antiviral compounds . Similarly, a notable number of articles related to the concept of chemical space are associated with drug repurposing . In particular, using network-based representations to predict drug-target interactions and more complex interactions, including drug-disease, protein-disease, and drug-side effect associations, to name a few .