Searches across all academic databases retrieved a total of 372 titles, of which 142 were duplicate and 230 were unique. Of the unique articles, 178 were eligible as they mentioned at least one TICAM for the potential prevention, treatment, and/or management of COVID-19. The remaining 52 full-text articles were excluded for the following reasons: not about COVID-19 (n=31); not about or focussed on one or more TICAM therapy (n=19); and only discussed internal vitamin levels, without mention of supplementation therapy (n=2). A bibliometric analysis flowchart is provided in Figure 1.
Across all 178 publications and 967 authors, 856 were unique. The number of publications per author ranged from 1 to 5. Authors were affiliated with a total of 541 affiliations across 43 countries. Authors were all from the same affiliation country in 129 publications, two countries in 43 publications, three countries in 13 publications, and a single publication contained 8 countries of affiliation. The number of articles containing affiliations from the following countries were as follows: China (n=76), United States (n=29), Italy (n=17), India (n=16), United Kingdom (n=13), Ireland (n=10), Australia (n=8), Canada (n=6), South Korea (n=5), Saudi Arabia (n=4), Spain (n=3), and Turkey (n=3). Additionally, two affiliations each were associated with the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Iran, Lebanon, Macau, Malaysia, Pakistan, Portugal, Switzerland and Vietnam. One affiliation each was associated with the following countries: Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Chile, Columbia, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Jordan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, and Thailand. Six articles did not have declared affiliations/countries associated with their articles. Eligible articles were primarily published English (n=144), followed by Chinese (n=30), German (n=2), and Italian (n=2). Additionally, three of the articles published in English were also published in an additional language: Spanish (n=2) and Czech (n=1). Eligible articles found were indexed by the academic databases searched as the following publication types: article (n=95), letter (n=38), review (n=28), editorial (n=9), note (n=6), erratum (n=1), and news (n=1). The general characteristics of eligible articles are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1: General Characteristics of Eligible Articles
Number of Publications
|
178
|
Number of Authors
|
967 (856 unique)
|
Number of Publications Per Author
|
1 (n=769)
|
2 (n=70)
|
3 (n=13)
|
4 (n=1)
|
5 (n=3)
|
Number of Countries Affiliated Per Publication
|
1 (n=129)
|
2 (n=43)
|
3 (n=13)
|
3+ (n=1)
|
Most Commonly Affiliated Countries
|
China (n=76)
|
United States (n=29)
|
Italy (n=17)
|
India (n=16)
|
Language of Publication
|
English (n=144)
|
Chinese (n=30)
|
German (n=2)
|
Italian (n=2)
|
Publication Types
|
Article (n=95)
|
Letter (n=38)
|
Review (n=28)
|
Editorial (n=9)
|
Note (n=6)
|
Erratum (n=1)
|
News (n=1)
|
In total, the 178 eligible articles were published in a total of 100 journals, of which 24 were identified to be TICAM-focussed journals. Sixty-one articles were published in TICAM-focussed journals. After hand-searching each journal on InCites Journal Citation Reports, it was found that sixty-nine journals had a 2018 impact factor. Of these 69 journals, impact factors ranged widely from 0.672 to 59.102. In total, 103 articles were published in a journal with a 2018 impact factor. The number of articles published per journal ranged from 1 to 14; details about the 14 journals with the highest number of articles are provided in Table 2.
Table 2: Top 14 Most Published Journals
Journal
|
TICAM Journal
|
2018 Journal Impact Factor
|
Number of Articles
|
Chinese Traditional and Herbal Drugs
|
Yes
|
N/A
|
14
|
Zhongguo Zhongyao Zazhi (China Journal of Chinese Materia Medica)
|
Yes
|
N/A
|
13
|
Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics
|
No
|
7.731
|
8
|
Irish Medical Journal
|
No
|
N/A
|
7
|
Pharmacological Research
|
No
|
5.574
|
6
|
Journal of Biomolecular Structure & Dynamics
|
No
|
3.310
|
5
|
Life Sciences
|
No
|
3.448
|
5
|
Journal of Integrative Medicine
|
Yes
|
N/A
|
4
|
Nutrients
|
No
|
4.171
|
4
|
American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology & Metabolism
|
No
|
4.125
|
3
|
Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
|
No
|
6.170
|
3
|
Chiropractic and Manual Therapies
|
Yes
|
N/A
|
3
|
Medical Hypotheses
|
No
|
1.322
|
3
|
Medicine in Drug Discovery
|
No
|
N/A
|
3
|
A total of 180 TICAMs were mentioned across the 178 eligible articles, as follows: Traditional Chinese Medicine (n=64), vitamin D (n=44), melatonin (n=10), general herbal medicine (n=9), vitamin C (n=8), Ayurveda (n=7), probiotics (n=6), cannabis (n=5), phytochemicals (n=5), acupuncture (n=4), chiropractic (n=4), general TICAM (n=2), antioxidants (n=1), bioflavonoids (n=1), dietary supplements (n=1), garlic essential oil (n=1), glycyrrhetinic acid (n=1), indigenous herbal medicine (n=1), marine algal antioxidants (n=1), meditation/mindfulness (n=1), phytotherapy (n=1), tea (n=1), traditional Persian medicine (n=1), and zinc iodide and dimethyl sulfoxide (n=1). A number of studies incorporated one or more other TICAMs in combination with the aforementioned therapies as follows: moxibustion (n=2, with acupuncture), curcumin and glycyrrhizic acid (n=1, with vitamin c), exercise (n=1, with vitamin d), natural products (n=1, with Ayurveda), quercetin and estradiol (n=1, with vitamin d), and yoga (n=1, with Ayurveda). This is summarized in Table 3.
Table 3: Most Common TICAMs across Eligible Publications
TICAM
|
Number of Publications (n=)
|
Traditional Chinese Medicine
|
64
|
Vitamin D
|
44
|
Melatonin
|
10
|
General Herbal Medicine
|
9
|
Vitamin C
|
8
|
Ayurveda
|
7
|
Probiotics
|
6
|
Cannabis
|
5
|
Phytochemicals
|
5
|
Acupuncture
|
4
|
Chiropractic
|
4
|
Other
|
14
|
Total
|
180
|
The entire dataset containing all of the aforementioned characteristics of all eligible articles is provided in Supplementary File 1 for the benefit of researchers and clinicians who seek to read the original publications, use this data to support further research, and foster future collaborations to investigate promising TICAMs in combatting the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.