Covid-19 Research Trends
Covid-19 Research Group Weekly Report
Last Update on 3 September 2020
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Publication Distribution and Patterns
Cumulative Growth of Publication by Subject
*Reporting takes into account indexing by Scopus at the time of data extraction.
Update on 26 March 2020:
The above diagrams show the trend in increase in publication by subject index. Medicine and Immunology & Microbiology has been separated due to the large number of publications, as compared to other subject areas.
There is a noticeable increase of publications in the area of Social Science, Multidisciplinary and Nursing.
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There are also new publications in Economics, Econometrics and Finance indexed up till 26 March 2020. However there are 3 publications indexed in the following week. One publication has appeared for Physics and Astronomy.
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Update on 16 April 2020:
In our 3rd week of analysis, Medicine, Immunology and Microbiology and Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology are still the top 3 publications. Two new subject areas have emerged: Arts & Humanities with 2 publications, and Earth and Planetary Sciences with 1 new paper. Social sciences, Psychology, Dentistry and Environmental Science also see a steady increase in publication.
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Update on 23 April 2020:
Medicine and Immunology & Microbiology remain the top subject areas for Covid-19 related research. It is notable that publications in Medicine have seen a 85% increase within a week. A total of 1238 publications were indexed between 16 April to 23 April 2020 in the field of Medicine. While Immunology & Microbiology saw a 34% increase from the total publication on 16 April 2020.
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In subject areas other than Medicine and Immunology & Microbiology, there is a steep increase in Biochemistry, Genetics & Molecular Biology – 79.3% in total publications since 16th April 2020. Interestingly publications in the subject area of Nursing, Neuroscience and Psychology have increase more than 100% within a week. While works in Dentistry and Health Professions are also steadily increasing. There have been no publications in Decision Science and Energy in the last week.
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Update on 30 April 2020:
The chart shows increase in number of publications in the month of April 2020 based on subject categorization in Scopus. The total number of publications in the charts exceed 4820 as publications may be indexed in more than one subject category. Medicine and Immunology & Microbiology remain the top subject areas for Covid-19 related research, with a steady increase in the area of Biochemistry, Genetics & Molecular Biology. It is notable that publications in Medicine have seen a very high increase in total number of publications in April as compared to end of March (n = 454). Publications in the Social Sciences category have also doubled within the last week [23-30/04/2020] and is now in the Top 5 rank.
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Update on 14 May 2020:
Medicine, Immunology and Microbiology and Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology and Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics remain the top 3 subject areas. Publications in the area other than Clinical/pre-clinical and health are not as vigorous in output. Although Social Science publications are on the increase, publications in Arts and Humanities are still lacking.
The chart for Medicine is plotted separately as the number of publications far exceed the other subject areas.
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Update on 31 May 2020:
In May, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology has higher productivity than Immunology and Microbiology. The publications in the subject area of Medicine has increased to 10,718 – about 83% of the total publications.
The chart for Medicine is plotted separately as the number of publications far exceed the other subject areas.
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Update on 2 Jul 2020:
The chart for Medicine is plotted separately as the percentage of publications (80%) far exceed the other subject areas.
Medicine, Biochemistry, Genetics & Molecular Biology and Immunology & Microbiology remain the top 3 subject areas. Publications in the Social Sciences (6.1%) and Arts & Humanities (1.77%) too have steadily increased in the last month.
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Update on 3 Sep 2020:
The chart for Medicine is plotted separately as the percentage of publications (80%) far exceed the other subject areas.
Medicine and Biochemistry, Genetics & Molecular Biology remain the top 2 subject areas. However, Social Science has moved to the third highest position with a total of 3517 publications indexed to date. Another 2 subject areas to have moved significantly higher are Business, Management and Accounting from the 16th position to the 11th position and Economics, Econometrics and Finance from 22nd to 17th position. There is a notable increase in the non-science areas of research and publications.
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Cumulative Growth of Publications by Document Type
Update on 26 March 2020:
The main publications are in the form of Journal articles. There has been a 73% increase in article publications in a week.
Letters, Notes and Editorials as short communication channels are being actively used by experts in the field to quickly reach a larger audience.
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Update on 9 April 2020:
44.2% of the publications are Articles in journals. Letters and Notes make 18.9% and 13.2% of the total publications. This week sees the publications of a single paper categorized as Data Paper . The publication titled Epidemiological data from the COVID-19 outbreak, real-time case information, published in Scientific Data is authored by 22 authors from five different countries offering individual-level data from national, provincial, and municipal health reports, as well as online reports.
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Update on 16 April 2020:
The number of Articles have increased by another 794 in the past week. There is a notable increase in the number of Letters and Editorials too. There has been no new Data Paper or Conference Paper in the last week.
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Update on 30 April 2020:
The number of articles have increased by another 2150 in the past month. There are 8 new Conference Papers and 3 Data Papers since 23.04.2020.
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Update on 14 May 2020:
Almost 47% of the publications are Articles, while 21% in the category of Letters and 17% are Editorials.
Editorials are the main channel of scientific communication of several of the authors with high publications count. (eg. Mahase, E. and Iacobucci, G. for BMJ Clinical Research ed.)
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Update on 31 May 2020:
48.1 % of the publications are Articles, while 22% in the category of Letters and 9.9% are Editorials.
Editorials and Letters are the main channel of scientific communication of several of the authors with high publications count. (eg. Mahase, E. and Iacobucci, G. for BMJ Clinical Research ed.)
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Update on 2 Jul 2020:
Articles form 48.9% of the total publications, while 21.4% in the category of Letters and 9.9% are Reviews. In June we also see one Book Chapter and one Conference Review indexed by Scopus.
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Update on 3 Sep 2020:
Articles form 51.8% of the total publications, while 26% are in the category of Letters and 34.7% are either Reviews, Editorials or Notes. Since July 2020, there have been 3 Conference Reviews and 2 Retracted publications.
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Cumulative Growth of Publications by Country
Update on 26 March 2020:
The diagram shows results of top 20 productive countries. China, US and UK are still leading the total number of publications.
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Update on 16 April 2020:
The top four countries, China, US, UK and Italy, in terms of most publication output have retained their place in the last week. Interestingly we see India gaining momentum and has shown an increase of 46 publications within the week. Another country with notable increase is Brazil. It was not in the top 20 last week but has now moved to 15th position.
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Update on 30 April 2020:
China, US, Italy, UK and France, in terms of most publication output, have retained their top 5 place but with Italy surpassing UK in number of publications. India is steadily showing increased productivity, while Taiwan has dropped from 15th to 20th position. Overall the trend in productivity by country has been steady in the last month.
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Update on 14 May 2020:
The top two countries are China and US, producing almost 45% of the total publications. India, Spain, Brazil and Belgium have notable increase in publications in the first two weeks of May.
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Update on 31 May 2020:
The top five countries have retained their position, though US has now surpassed China in total number of publications.
The top two countries US and China have produced 42.3% of the total publications. Japan has now moved to the top 20 and Taiwan is not in the list this week.
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Update on 2 Jul 2020:
US has now surpassed in total publications, putting China in second in the Top 20 country list. Both US and China have produced 39.5% the total publications, as compared to 45% in mid May. Spain and Turkey have had notable increase in publications in June.
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Update on 3 Sep 2020:
US is still in the lead with the highest number of publications. There has been a 102% increase in the publications from US in since July 2020. Overall, the positions of the top 20 countries based on the total publications has not changed since July 2020.
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Cumulative Growth of Publications by Affiliation (Top 20)
Update on 26 March 2020:
We now see Huazhong University of Sc. & Tech. and Tongji Medical College leading in the total number of publications. The University of Hong Kong which was leading prior to this is now at third place with the Chinese Academy of Sciences with total publications at 30 each.
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Update on 16 April 2020:
There is a sharp increase in publications by Tongji Medical College and Huazhong University of Sc. & Tech., keeping them in the lead. The Capital Medical University has moved from 8th place to 14th this week as only 7 new publications have been indexed in the last week.
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Update on 30 April 2020:
Huazhong University of Sc. & Tech is now leading the total number of publications sponsored. Closely followed by Tongji Medical College. The top 6 institutions have retained their positions. In the last week we see six (Inserm, Università degli Studi di Milano, Harvard Medical School, University of Toronto, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, and IRCCS Foundation Rome) new institutions appearing in the top 20. Thus removing National University of Singapore, University of Hong Kong Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, Aix Marseille Université, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University School of Medicine and School of Medicine out of the top 20.
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Update on 16 May 2020:
There are several institutions that have managed to be in the Top 20 though their progress was much slower before March 2020. Inserm has moved from only 9 publications on 26 March to 47 on 14 May 2020. Università degli Studi di Milano, IRCCS Foundation Rome and Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza have also notable increased their publications in the last month.
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Update on 31 May 2020:
There are several institutions that have managed to be in the top 20 though their progress was much slower before March 2020.
Harvard Medical School has doubled it’s publication output in May. The Brigham and Women's Hospital has a notable increase in publication in May. NHS Foundation Trust, University of California and AP-HP Assistance Publique - Hopitaux de Paris have also notably increased their publications in the last month to now be in the top 20 position.
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Update on 2 Jul 2020:
The top 4 institutions have retained their positions in the last months. UCL has moved from 8th position to 5th. University of Washington, King’s College London and Imperial College London are new entries into the top 20 institutions in June.
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Update on 3 Sep 2020:
Since July 2020, Harvard Medical School has moved to the 1st position. UCL has however moved from 5th position to 9th position. The new institutions in the top 20 list are Universidade de Sao Paulo; Tehran University of Medical Sciences and University of Pennsylvania. The Scientific IRCCS Network- Italian Ministry of Health, NHS Foundation Trust and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College are no longer in the top 20 list.
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Cumulative Growth of Publications by Journal (Top 20)
Update on 26 March 2020:
BMJ Clinical Research Ed continues to lead the total number of publications. Lancet has only 1 publications in the last week, while JAMA has produced 18 publications in the last week. Several journals have not published any publications in the last week, including Nature.
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Update on 16 April 2020:
The top 3 journal have retained their top position, with Journal of Medical Virology jumping to 2nd position with a sharp increase of 51 publications, bringing Lancet to 3rd position. The Clinical Infectious Diseases (an Official Publication Of The Infectious Diseases Society Of America) has appeared in the top 20 list after having no publications prior to 16th April 2020. There are 37 publications from this journal within the last week (16/04/2020 – 23/04/2020). The status of all 37 are ‘Article in Press’. While Chinese Traditional and Herbal Drugs has seen no output in the last 2 weeks.
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Update on 30 April 2020:
The top 3 journal have retained their top position. There has not been many new publications in BMJ Clinical Research Ed, while Lancet has increased notably with 21 new publications since within the last week. This week there are 5 new journals that now appear in the top 20 list. Clinical Infectious Diseases has 20 new publications in the past week, while International Journal of Infectious Diseases, Science of the Total Environment, Asian Journal of Psychiatry, Emerging Infectious Diseases and Psychiatry Research now appear in the top 20. Having 2 Psychiatry journals in the top 20 indicate an emerging research interest in the onset of the pandemic.
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Update on 14 May 2020:
In the last two weeks there are several journals that have increased publications and moved to the top 20. Notable are (i) Clinical Infectious Diseases an Official Publication of The Infectious Diseases Society of America and (ii) Head and Neck which had no publications up till 16 April but has respectively 76 and 42 publications since.
Science of The Total Environment, International Journal of Infectious Diseases, Eurosurveillance, Psychiatry Research and Journal of Clinical Virology are the other new entries to the top 20 in May 2020.
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Update on 31 May 2020:
There are four new journal that have made it to the top 20 by end of May: Nature, Medical Hypothesis, Brain behavior and Immunity and Dermatologist Therapy. Nature has a surge in publication in May with a total of 41 new publications. Lancet Respiratory Medicine is no longer in the top 20 list.
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Update on 2 Jul 2020:
BMJ Clinical Research Ed and Journal of Medical Virology remain the top 2 journals with the highest publications amounting to almost 3% of the total publications. In the last month most of the top 20 Journals have retained their positions, with Asian Journal of Psychiatry and Eurosurveillance moving out of the list to make place for Dermatologic Therapy and Nature.
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Cumulative Growth of Publications by Authors (Top 20)
Update on 3 Sep 2020:
The top 5 authors have retained their position in the top 20 productive authors, with Wiwanitkit V still at the number one position. Mahase E has replaced Iacobucci G at the second position with 22 new publications since July 2020. There are several notable new comers to the top 20 list : Dharma K with 43 publications, Henry BM, Kiu L, To KKW, Rezzaie N and Sausssez S. Most of these authors only began publishing after April 2020. Lechien JR’s publications only appear since June 2020.
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Cumulative Growth of Publications by Funding Agencies / Sponsors (Top 20)
Update on 26 March 2020:
To date the largest funding agency/sponsor is the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The National Institute of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have also significantly increased their funding support.
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Update on 9 April 2020:
The past week has seen an emerging sponsor for research - Wellcome Trust. There have no new publications sponsored by Center for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
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Update on 30 April 2020:
To date the National Natural Science Foundation of China has the highest number of sponsored/funded research publications in Scopus, as reported by the authors.
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Update on 14 May 2020:
The National Natural Science Foundation of China is the major funding or sponsor agencies which tops the list with 249 funded scientific publications. Several funders, such as Novartis, AstraZeneca, Roche, European Regional Development Fund, and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute had no reported funding by publications prior to April 2020. However, these agencies have now increased funding to be positioned as the top 20 funding agencies.
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Update on 31 May 2020:
The National Natural Science Foundation of China is still the major funding or sponsor agencies which tops the list with 374 funded scientific publications. Several new sponsors have emerged in the top 20 list: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃfico e Tecnológico, National Cancer Institute and Merck.
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Update on 2 Jul 2020:
The National Natural Science Foundation of China is the major funding or sponsor agencies which tops the list with 569 funded scientific publications, followed by National Institute of Health with 271 funded publications. A new funder in the top 20 list is Medtronic with a total of 40 sponsored publications.
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Keyword Occurrences Network on Covid-19 Publications
Last update on 18 June 2020 (Total Publication: 17,804)
This figure shows 4 clusters of co-occurrence of keywords from 17,804 publications. There are four clusters with the following keywords of highest frequency for each Cluster are: Cluster 1 “Human“ (7250); Cluster 3 “Sars-cov-2” (4374); Cluster 2 “Female” (1213); and Cluster 4 “Case Fatality Fate” (150)
For Cluster 1 the keywords are co-occurred among human, covid-19, pandemic, coronavirus disease 2019, coronavirus infection, virus pneumonia, pneumonia, viral, and betacoronavirus.
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For Cluster 2 the keywords are co-occurred among female, male, adult, fever, disease severity, aged, and middle aged.
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For Cluster 3 the keywords are co-occurred among sars-cov-2, nonhuman, virology, review, sars-coronavirus, angiotensin converting enzyme 2, hydroxychloroquine, and severe acute respiratory syndrome.
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For Cluster 4 the keywords are co-occurred among case fatality rate, incubation time, and time factor.