Bibliometric Analysis of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Literature Published in Web of Science 2019–2020 Rai K
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[Downloaded free from http://www.jfcmonline.com on Monday, February 8, 2021, IP: 217.52.7.41] Review Article Access this article online Quick Response Code: Bibliometric analysis of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) literature published in Web of Science 2019–2020 Rai K. Farooq, Shafiq Ur Rehman1, Murtaza Ashiq2, Nadeem Siddique3, 1 Website: Shakil Ahmad www.jfcmonline.com DOI: 10.4103/jfcm.JFCM_332_20 Abstract: Coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, turned into a pandemic in record time. Communication of disease presentation and mechanism of spread remain keys to getting ahead of the virus and limiting its spread beyond the capacity of management. Owing to huge academic focus and pandemic concern around the globe, this bibliometric analysis investigated research productivity related to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic using the Web of Science database. The relevant data were harvested, and search query was further refined by publication years (2020 OR 2019) and document types (article, book chapter, and proceedings paper). Finally, 6694 records were imported and downloaded in Plaintext and BibTeX formats on August 1, 2020. The data analysis was performed using MS Excel, VOS viewer, and Biblioshiny software. Of the 6694 publications that appeared in that period, the USA and Chinese research institutions topped the numbers. At the same time, the Journal of Medical Virology and CUREUS (Cureus Journal of Medical Science), remained favorite journals for publications. The pattern of multi-author publications has outstripped that of single-authors. Apart from COVID-19 and the novel coronavirus, the important keywords mentioned included pandemic, pneumonia, epidemiology, public health, outbreak, epidemic, China, infection, and treatment. The analysis shows a strong local research response from China, with large teams reporting on the disease Department of outbreak. Subsequent studies will document a global response as the virus spreads worldwide. The Neuroscience initial research related to the current coronavirus outbreak was reported from within China. The data Research, Institute for and patterns were supposed to alter as the virus spread globally. Research and Medical Keywords: Consultations, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal 2019-nCoV, bibliometric, bibliometric-coronavirus, COVID-19, health care, pandemic, China, severe University, 1Deanship acute respiratory syndrome-cov-2, research productivity, the World Health Organization of Library Affairs, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia, 2Library Introduction family; however, no confirmatory links [1] and Information Science were established. The World Health Department, Islamabad n today’s connected world, contagious Organization (WHO) was alarmed about this Model College for Boys, and previously unknown pathogens outbreak. Within a month (January 30, 2020), Islamabad, 3Gad & Birgit I Rausing Library, Lahore have become a public health problem. In the WHO had declared this outbreak a University of Management late December 2019, the health facilities of global health emergency. On March 11, 2020, Sciences, Lahore, Wuhan city in China reported receiving they pronounced it a pandemic.[2] In the Pakistan patients with chest infection of an unknown absence of a specific treatment or vaccine, cause. The clinical picture of these patients minimizing human contact was the only Address for [3] correspondence: resembled viral chest infections and included way to slow its spread. Dr. Shafiq Ur Rehman, fever, cough, and dyspnea. Initial laboratory Imam Abdulrahman Bin investigations linked it with the Coronavirus The virus has been named a novel Faisal University, coronavirus and coded as COVID‑19 and P.O. Box 1982, Dammam 31441, This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under 2019‑nCoV. Phylogenetic analyses have Saudi Arabia. the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‑NonCommercial revealed its close similarity with the severe E-mail: suRehman@iau. ‑ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and edu.sa build upon the work non‑commercially, as long as appropriate How to cite this article: Farooq RK, Rehman SU, credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the Ashiq M, Siddique N, Ahmad S. Bibliometric analysis Received: 20-08-2020 identical terms. of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) literature Revised: 05-09-2020 published in Web of Science 2019–2020. J Fam Accepted: 11-09-2020 Community Med 2021;28:1-7. Published: 07-01-2021 For reprints contact: [email protected] © 2021 Journal of Family and Community Medicine | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow 1 [Downloaded free from http://www.jfcmonline.com on Monday, February 8, 2021, IP: 217.52.7.41] Farooq, et al.: Bibliometric analysis of COVID‑19 acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)‑related coronavirus from the Web of Science (WOS), the most authentic clade.[4] It is a single‑stranded positive‑sense ribonucleic indexing and abstracting database in the world. In the acid (RNA) type virus, which bears 82% similarity to WOS core collection, the following search query was run SARS‑CoV. Predominantly, patients on presentation in title and Author Keyword field. have respiratory symptoms, but may also involve intestines, liver, and brain.[5] TI= (coronavirus OR covid19 OR covid‑19 OR ncov2019 OR sars‑cov‑2 OR “SARS COV 2” OR Initial studies on 2019‑nCoV highlight its zoonotic orthocoronavirinae) OR AK = (coronavirus OR origin designating bats as the carriers.[6] As much as covid19 OR covid‑19 OR ncov2019 OR sars‑cov‑2 OR 96% similarity was detected at the whole genome “SARS COV 2” OR orthocoronavirinae). level between 2019‑nCoV and a bat CoV. However, an intermediate host remains a mystery.[7] The reported The query was further refined by publication years mortality rate of COVID‑19 remains close to 2%, lower (2020 OR 2019) and document types (article, or review than SARS reported in 2003 (>40%),[8] and MERS, article or book chapter or proceedings paper or early access). reported in 2012 (30%).[9] As of August 1, 2020, 17,771,634 Letters, data paper, news items, and editorials were confirmed 2019‑nCoV cases had been reported globally. excluded. Finally, the 6694 records (articles = 3917, early There have been 683,278 deaths in 213 countries, areas, access articles = 1487, review articles = 1023 review, or territories globally.[10] early access review articles = 263, book chapters = 3, and proceeding paper = 1) were imported and downloaded There was a surge in relevant publications after the SARS in Plaintext and BibTeX formats on July 9–August 1, outbreak in 2003. As reviewed later,[11] the news features 2020.The citation impact (CI) used in this study was were the dominant type of publication (32%), while calculated by dividing the total number of citations by 25% editorials, 22% research articles, and 13% of letters the total number of publications. This illustrates the were published. The US and Hong Kong contributed average number of citations that a specific publication 30% and 24% of publications, respectively. The SARS has received. Besides, some terminologies are defined publication pattern suggested immediate citation but by the WOS database, such as usage count U1 which low international collaboration. refers to the usage count of the last 180 days. The data analysis was performed using MS Excel, MS Access, and The knowledge gaps on 2019‑nCoV can only be various bibliometric softwares, including VOS viewer, filled if public health authorities continually update Biblioshiny (RStudio), and BibExcel. epidemiological data as China did. Early disease recognition and communication of the knowledge can Results minimize the spread by early implementation of public health measures. This study is intended to review In 2019, 324 publications obtained 2105 citations and a bibliometric parameters of publication surge following usage count of 2776 whereas from January to July 2020, the COVID‑19 outbreak. i.e., 180 days, 6370 publications were recorded with 37,965 citations and a usage count of 46,885. This shows Research Questions that the COVID‑19 pandemic has had remarkable attention from researchers throughout the world. 1. What are the most productive countries and organizations? Most Productive Countries and 2. In what favorite sources would COVID‑19 researchers Organizations like to publish their work? 3. What are the authorship and collaborative patterns Table 1 indicates top 10 countries and organizations that of COVID‑19 researchers? produced COVID‑19 literature globally. All countries 4. What are the most frequently used keywords and in the table produced over 100 publications from 2019 co‑occurrence network in COVID‑19 research? to July 1, 2020. Only four countries produced over 500 5. What kind of relationship is based on three‑factor publications. The United States of America (USA) is at analysis (countries, keywords, and organizations)? the top of the list with 1860 publications, 9468 citations 6. Which research papers are highly influential with followed by China with 1510, Italy with 782, and England respect to citation and usage count on COVID‑19? with 592 publications. It has been observed that though the USA has a higher number of publications, the impact Materials and Methods of publications by China is higher than any country. Of the top 10 organizations, Huazhong University Science To examine the publishing trends and patterns on and Technology produced 193 publications and 5484 COVID‑19 pandemic, bibliometric data were retrieved citations,