Global research trends in coronavirus disease 2019

Abstract

Introduction: The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an ongoing global epidemic incident. The present study aims to bibliometrically analyze the global research trends of scientific papers related to COVID-19 with regard to the number of publications, subject categories, and prolific countries. A total of 47,061 publications, published during the last seven months, were collected and analyzed in this study.
 Methods: The bibliometric data in this study, which was extracted from the LitCovid Hub from January 17 to July 31, 2020.
 Results: Our results indicate that the number of publications on COVID-19 has increased significantly from January to July 2020, along with the rapid spread of the infection. China has produced the largest number of research papers on COVID-19 (5,751 articles, accounting for 12.2%), followed by the USA (2,005 publications, accounting for 4.3%) and Italy (1,374 publications, accounting for 2.9%). Most recent research papers have focused on prevention, treatment, and diagnosis. Our results reveal that although the most affected countries are the USA, Brazil, India, and many countries in Europe, their contribution to research about COVID-19 has been limited.
 Conclusion: More research in the field of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment from highly affected countries is recommended. Overall, this study not only provides a global status update on COVID-19 scientific literature but also contributes to future research.