Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Date of this Version
Winter 10-27-2020
Abstract
Novel coronavirus is a new addition in the family of coronaviruses and was first reported in December 2019 in China. SARS and MERS were the earlier forms of viruses in this family of viruses. The outbreak was considered a pandemic in March 2020 by WHO. The pandemic moved the health sciences researchers around the world to study various aspects of widespread disease. To know the volume and hotspots of COVID-19 research this study is prepared using the bibliometric method of research evaluation. Scopus and Web of Science; two most widely used indexing databases are used to retrieve the already published research on the COVID-19 pandemic. Two data sources are selected for comprehensive coverage. Health scientists have carried out 1060 research studies on the pandemic until now. These publications have been cited with an average of 1.4 citations per publication. China is leading in producing COVID-19 research followed by the United States of America and the United Kingdom with 32%, 13%, and 6% share respectively. Top-ranked journals categorized in first and second quartiles are publishing most of the research on COVID-19. BMJ, the Lancet, and Journal of Medical Virology are the most preferred journals by the researchers to publish their research on COVID-19.