CORACLE (COVID-19 liteRAture CompiLEr): A platform for efficient tracking and extraction of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 literature, with examples from post-COVID with respiratory involvement

Abstract

Background: During COVID-19 pandemic there emerged a need to efficiently monitor and process large volumes of scientific literature on the subject. Currently, as the pandemic is winding down, the clinicians encountered a novel syndrome - Post-acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) - that affects over 10% of those who contract SARS-CoV-2 and presents a significant and growing challenge in the medical field. The continuous influx of new research publications underscores a critical need for efficient tools for navigating the literature. Objectives: We aimed to develop an application which will allow monitoring and categorizing COVID-19-related literature through building publication networks and medical subject headings (MeSH) maps to be able to quickly identify key publications and publication networks. Methods: We introduce CORACLE (COVID-19 liteRAture CompiLEr), an innovative web application designed for the analysis of COVID-19-related scientific articles and the identification of research trends. CORACLE features three primary interfaces: The "Search" interface, which displays research trends and citation links; the "Citation Map" interface, allowing users to create tailored citation networks from PubMed Identifiers (PMIDs) to uncover common references among selected articles; and the "MeSH" interface, highlighting current MeSH trends and associations between MeSH terms. Results: Our web application, CORACLE, leverages regularly updated PubMed data to aggregate and categorize the extensive literature on COVID-19 and PASC, aiding in the identification of relevant research publication hubs. Using lung function in PASC patients as a search example, we demonstrate how to identify and visualize the interactions between the relevant publications. Conclusion: CORACLE proves to be an effective tool for the extraction and analysis of literature. Its functionalities, including the MeSH trends and customizable citation mapping, facilitate the discovery of relevant information and emerging trends in COVID-19 and PASC research.