How the scientific community responded to the COVID-19 pandemic: A subject-level time-trend bibliometric analysis.
Journal
PloS one
ISSN: 1932-6203
Titre abrégé: PLoS One
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 101285081
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
2021
2021
Historique:
received:
01
05
2021
accepted:
06
09
2021
entrez:
30
9
2021
pubmed:
1
10
2021
medline:
13
10
2021
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
COVID-19 has triggered an avalanche of research publications, the various aspects of which need to be assessed. The objective of this study is to determine the scientific community's response patterns to COVID-19 through a bibliometric analysis of the time-trends, global contribution, international collaboration, open-access provision, science domains of focus, and the behavior of journals. The bibliographic records on COVID-19 literature were retrieved from both PubMed and Scopus. The period for searching was set from November 1, 2019, to April 15, 2021. The bibliographic data were coupled with COVID-19 incidence to explore possible association, as well as World Bank indicators and classification of economies. A total of 159132 records were included in the study. Following the escalation of incidences of COVID-19 in late 2020 and early 2021, the monthly publication count made a new peak in March 2021 at 20505. Overall, 125155 (78.6%) were national, 22548 (14.2%) were bi-national, and 11429 (7.2%) were multi-national. Low-income countries with 928 (66.8%) international publications had the highest percentage of international. The open-access provision decreased from 85.5% in February 2020 to 62.0% in April 2021. As many as 82841 (70.8%) publications were related to health sciences, followed by life sciences 27031 (23.1%), social sciences 20291 (17.3%), and physical sciences 15141 (12.9%). The top three medical subjects in publications were general internal medicine, public health, and infectious diseases with 28.9%, 18.3%, and 12.6% of medical publications, respectively. The association between the incidence and publication count indicated the scientific community's interest in the ongoing situation and timely response to it. Only one-fifth of publications resulted from international collaboration, which might lead to redundancy without adding significant value. Our study underscores the necessity of policies for attraction of international collaboration and direction of vital funds toward domains of higher priority.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
COVID-19 has triggered an avalanche of research publications, the various aspects of which need to be assessed. The objective of this study is to determine the scientific community's response patterns to COVID-19 through a bibliometric analysis of the time-trends, global contribution, international collaboration, open-access provision, science domains of focus, and the behavior of journals.
METHODS
The bibliographic records on COVID-19 literature were retrieved from both PubMed and Scopus. The period for searching was set from November 1, 2019, to April 15, 2021. The bibliographic data were coupled with COVID-19 incidence to explore possible association, as well as World Bank indicators and classification of economies.
RESULTS
A total of 159132 records were included in the study. Following the escalation of incidences of COVID-19 in late 2020 and early 2021, the monthly publication count made a new peak in March 2021 at 20505. Overall, 125155 (78.6%) were national, 22548 (14.2%) were bi-national, and 11429 (7.2%) were multi-national. Low-income countries with 928 (66.8%) international publications had the highest percentage of international. The open-access provision decreased from 85.5% in February 2020 to 62.0% in April 2021. As many as 82841 (70.8%) publications were related to health sciences, followed by life sciences 27031 (23.1%), social sciences 20291 (17.3%), and physical sciences 15141 (12.9%). The top three medical subjects in publications were general internal medicine, public health, and infectious diseases with 28.9%, 18.3%, and 12.6% of medical publications, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS
The association between the incidence and publication count indicated the scientific community's interest in the ongoing situation and timely response to it. Only one-fifth of publications resulted from international collaboration, which might lead to redundancy without adding significant value. Our study underscores the necessity of policies for attraction of international collaboration and direction of vital funds toward domains of higher priority.
Identifiants
pubmed: 34591941
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258064
pii: PONE-D-21-14493
pmc: PMC8483337
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
e0258064Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Références
Nat Hum Behav. 2020 Jul;4(7):666-669
pubmed: 32576981
Scientometrics. 2020 Jul 24;:1-18
pubmed: 32836530
Euro Surveill. 2020 Feb;25(6):
pubmed: 32046814
Lancet Psychiatry. 2020 Jun;7(6):547-560
pubmed: 32304649
Neural Regen Res. 2013 May 15;8(14):1286-96
pubmed: 25206423
Lancet Infect Dis. 2020 May;20(5):533-534
pubmed: 32087114
BMJ. 2020 May 12;369:m1847
pubmed: 32398241
N Engl J Med. 2020 Jun 25;382(26):2582
pubmed: 32501665
PLoS One. 2020 Jul 21;15(7):e0236307
pubmed: 32692757
J Glob Health. 2020 Jun;10(1):011001
pubmed: 32257173
Glob Health Res Policy. 2020 Jul 1;5:33
pubmed: 32617414
Scientometrics. 2020 Jun 25;:1-15
pubmed: 32836524
Saf Sci. 2020 Sep;129:104806
pubmed: 32382213
J Clin Orthop Trauma. 2020 May;11(Suppl 3):S304-S306
pubmed: 32405191
PLoS One. 2020 May 13;15(5):e0232458
pubmed: 32401823
BMC Med Res Methodol. 2006 Aug 01;6:37
pubmed: 16879753
BMC Infect Dis. 2020 Aug 1;20(1):561
pubmed: 32738881
Gigascience. 2020 Aug 1;9(8):
pubmed: 32803225
Lancet Public Health. 2020 May;5(5):e235
pubmed: 32380034
Lancet. 2009 Jul 4;374(9683):86-9
pubmed: 19525005
Scientometrics. 2020 Jun 9;:1-27
pubmed: 32836522
Gigascience. 2019 Jun 1;8(6):
pubmed: 31144712
Lancet. 2020 Jun 13;395(10240):1820
pubmed: 32511943
BMC Public Health. 2021 Jan 9;21(1):105
pubmed: 33422049
Health Res Policy Syst. 2020 Jul 14;18(1):80
pubmed: 32664985