Amount of published items
The query in the Web of Science (WoS) database resulted in 2551 publications with a reference to Coronavirus. In the study time frame, a rapid increase of publications in this subject area can be observed (Fig. 2); especially a remarkable increase in Coronavirus related research output in WoS can be noted in the current year i.e. 2020. Almost more than half of the publications (62 percent) were published in the current year. All the highly cited publications were found in 2020.
7.1.Authorship Trends in top Countries
It is evident from the Figure 3, that about 89% were collaborative research either by two authors or more than two authors. Only 11% of contributions were by single authors. China followed by USA and all other countries with top publication output showed highest number of collaborative authorship with more than three authored papers.
Figure 4, shows that the degree of collaboration between the top productive countries ranges between 0.83 and 0.95. This indicates the high extent of research collaboration among the countries. While the Collaborative Index (CI) ranges between 3.15 and 3.60. This indicates that there is at least average of 3 authors per joint article.
Table 1 Authorship collaboration as in top Countries
Countries
|
No. of Records
|
1 Author
|
2 Authors
|
3
Authors
|
>3 Authors
|
DC
|
CI
|
CC
|
China
|
747
|
104
|
68
|
78
|
495
|
0.86
|
3.29
|
0.61
|
USA
|
391
|
39
|
63
|
37
|
251
|
0.90
|
3.28
|
0.63
|
Italy
|
119
|
15
|
14
|
16
|
72
|
0.87
|
3.24
|
0.61
|
South Korea
|
95
|
11
|
8
|
10
|
65
|
0.88
|
3.37
|
0.63
|
England
|
90
|
15
|
13
|
5
|
56
|
0.83
|
3.15
|
0.58
|
Saudi Arabia
|
61
|
5
|
7
|
10
|
39
|
0.92
|
3.36
|
0.65
|
Germany
|
59
|
3
|
4
|
6
|
45
|
0.95
|
3.60
|
0.69
|
India
|
57
|
8
|
5
|
5
|
39
|
0.86
|
3.32
|
0.62
|
France
|
52
|
9
|
3
|
6
|
34
|
0.83
|
3.25
|
0.60
|
Canada
|
48
|
4
|
5
|
2
|
37
|
0.92
|
3.50
|
0.66
|
Japan
|
48
|
5
|
6
|
4
|
33
|
0.90
|
3.35
|
0.63
|
Iran
|
40
|
6
|
4
|
6
|
24
|
0.85
|
3.20
|
0.60
|
Switzerland
|
39
|
6
|
1
|
4
|
28
|
0.85
|
3.38
|
0.62
|
Netherlands
|
37
|
1
|
3
|
3
|
30
|
0.97
|
3.68
|
0.70
|
Brazil
|
34
|
3
|
1
|
4
|
26
|
0.91
|
3.56
|
0.67
|
7.2.Relative Quality Index (RQI)
The Relative Quality Index (RQI) for various top countries relates to the frequency of high quality papers for a given country.
Table 2 Relative Quality Index (RQI)
Country
|
TNP
|
TNC
|
CPP
|
NHQ
|
TNP%
|
NHQ%
|
RQI
|
China
|
747
|
7229
|
9.68
|
3
|
29.28
|
1.91
|
0.07
|
USA
|
391
|
1423
|
3.64
|
18
|
15.33
|
11.46
|
0.75
|
Italy
|
119
|
210
|
1.76
|
7
|
4.66
|
4.46
|
0.96
|
South Korea
|
95
|
182
|
1.92
|
7
|
3.72
|
4.46
|
1.20
|
England
|
90
|
290
|
3.22
|
8
|
3.53
|
5.10
|
1.44
|
Saudi Arabia
|
61
|
164
|
2.69
|
8
|
2.39
|
5.10
|
2.13
|
Germany
|
59
|
258
|
4.37
|
3
|
2.31
|
1.91
|
0.83
|
India
|
57
|
51
|
0.89
|
7
|
2.23
|
4.46
|
2.00
|
France
|
52
|
99
|
1.90
|
4
|
2.04
|
2.55
|
1.25
|
Canada
|
48
|
229
|
4.77
|
3
|
1.88
|
1.91
|
1.02
|
Japan
|
48
|
146
|
3.04
|
8
|
1.88
|
5.10
|
2.71
|
Iran
|
40
|
37
|
0.93
|
5
|
1.57
|
3.18
|
2.03
|
Switzerland
|
39
|
102
|
2.62
|
4
|
1.53
|
2.55
|
1.67
|
Netherlands
|
37
|
138
|
3.73
|
5
|
1.45
|
3.18
|
2.20
|
Brazil
|
34
|
11
|
0.32
|
6
|
1.33
|
3.82
|
2.87
|
Others
|
634
|
866
|
1.37
|
61
|
24.85
|
38.85
|
1.56
|
Total
|
2551
|
11435
|
4.48
|
157
|
100.00
|
100.00
|
1.00
|
TNP – Total Number of Papers, TNC – Total Number of Citations, CPP – Citation Per Paper, NHQ – Number of High Quality Papers, RQI – Relative Quality Index
The top countries along with their total number of publications, citation per paper (CPP), total citations, number of high quality papers and relative quality index are indicated in Table 2. The average value of CPP is 2.93. The value of CPP is highest for the China. Other countries having higher than average value for CPP are USA, England, Germany, Canada, Japan and Netherlands. Table 2 also indicates that since the value of the RQI is more than 1 the countries namely South Korea, England, Saudi Arabia, Germany, India, France, Canada, Japan, Iran, Switzerland, Netherlands and Brazil have higher than average frequency of high quality papers. For the other countries, the incidence of high quality papers is less than average. The value of the RQI is highest in case of Brazil (2.87) in comparison to the other countries, which implies that it has more quality research output than other countries (Fig. 5).
7.3.Highly Cited articles
Table 3 Highly Cited articles
Authors
|
Title
|
Journal
|
Citations
|
Huang, Chaolin et al.
|
Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China
|
Lancet
|
737
|
Zhu, Na et al.
|
A Novel Coronavirus from Patients with Pneumonia in China, 2019
|
New England Journal of Medicine
|
436
|
Chen, Nanshan et al.
|
Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 99 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a descriptive study
|
Lancet
|
424
|
Wang, Dawei et al.
|
Clinical Characteristics of 138 Hospitalized Patients With 2019 Novel Coronavirus-Infected Pneumonia in Wuhan, China
|
Journal of The American Medical Association
|
389
|
Zhou, Peng et al.
|
A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin
|
Nature
|
308
|
Li, Qun et al.
|
Early Transmission Dynamics in Wuhan, China, of Novel Coronavirus-Infected Pneumonia
|
New England Journal of Medicine
|
284
|
Chan, Jasper Fuk-Woo et al.
|
A familial cluster of pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus indicating person-to-person transmission: a study of a family cluster
|
Lancet
|
272
|
Lu, Roujian et al.
|
Genomic characterisation and epidemiology of 2019 novel Coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding
|
Lancet
|
236
|
Holshue, Michelle L. et al.
|
First Case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus in the United States
|
New England Journal of Medicine
|
182
|
Wu, Zunyou; McGoogan, Jennifer M.
|
Characteristics of and Important Lessons From the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak in China Summary of a Report of 72 314 Cases From the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
|
Journal of The American Medical Association
|
163
|
The paper by Huang, Chaolin [et al.] on Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China was found to be the most highly cited publication with 737 citations as illustrated in Table 3. Surprisingly, all the top cited articles include collaboration of authors. Majority of top cited papers were from Lancet journal securing 1669 citations.
7.4.Top Sub-fields Vs. No. of records
Table 4 Top Sub-fields Vs. No. of records
Sl. No
|
Subfield
|
Subfield Code
|
No. of Records
|
1.
|
Coronavirus
|
CNV
|
431
|
2.
|
COVID-19
|
COV
|
493
|
3.
|
Severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
|
SAR
|
245
|
4.
|
2019-nCoV
|
NCV
|
79
|
5.
|
Pandemic
|
PND
|
72
|
6.
|
Epidemiology
|
EPI
|
61
|
7.
|
Infection
|
INF
|
42
|
8.
|
SARS
|
SRS
|
36
|
9.
|
SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV)
|
SCV
|
34
|
10.
|
Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)
|
NLC
|
34
|
11.
|
Outbreak
|
OUB
|
34
|
12.
|
Influenza
|
INZ
|
33
|
13.
|
Infectious bronchitis virus
|
IBR
|
33
|
14.
|
Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV)
|
PED
|
24
|
15.
|
Vaccine
|
VAC
|
23
|
COVID–19 (COV), Coronavirus (CNV), Severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SAR), 2019-nCoV (NCV), Pandemic (PND), Epidemiology (EPI), Infection (INF), SARS (SRS), SARS coronavirus (SCV), Novel coronavirus (NLC), Outbreak (OUB), Influenza (INZ), Infectious bronchitis virus (IBR), Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PED), Vaccine (VAC).
About 19.33% of publications on subfield ‘COVID–19’ have resulted in highest number (493) of publications. It is followed by research in ‘Coronavirus’ 431 (16.90%), ‘Severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2’ 245 (9.60%), ’2019-nCoV’ 79 (310) and ‘Pandemic’ 72 (2.82%). The output in other top sub-fields were in the range between 2.39% and 0.90% contributions (Table 4).
7.5.Research Priority Index (RPI) of top countries
The mere assessment of quantum of publications perhaps may not be an effective method to judge the quantity of output in respective sub-fields of a subject field. Hence, the technique Research Priority Index (RPI) is employed in the present study to measure the Coronavirus research output by various top countries in the top sub-fields, enabling cross-national comparison is presented in Table 5.
Table 5 Research Priority Index (RPI) of top countries
Countries
|
CNV
|
COV
|
SAR
|
NCV
|
PND
|
EPI
|
INF
|
SRS
|
SCV
|
NLC
|
OUB
|
INZ
|
IBR
|
PED
|
VAC
|
China
|
78.2
|
108.2
|
246.7
|
147.2
|
54.4
|
123.3
|
105.7
|
96.9
|
105.7
|
188.6
|
85.8
|
33.6
|
164.4
|
164.4
|
77.1
|
USA
|
122.5
|
85.4
|
0.0
|
32.9
|
165.9
|
22.7
|
58.3
|
72.8
|
174.8
|
95.9
|
70.9
|
222.4
|
90.6
|
135.9
|
127.4
|
Italy
|
108.8
|
117.2
|
0.0
|
64.5
|
50.8
|
111.0
|
190.3
|
178.4
|
142.7
|
0.0
|
86.9
|
45.4
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
62.4
|
South Korea
|
87.9
|
117.8
|
0.0
|
179.0
|
75.3
|
0.0
|
105.7
|
79.3
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
482.6
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
England
|
136.1
|
93.0
|
0.0
|
76.7
|
80.6
|
88.1
|
75.5
|
169.9
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
68.9
|
72.1
|
58.7
|
0.0
|
99.1
|
Germany
|
164.9
|
101.5
|
0.0
|
73.2
|
0.0
|
252.3
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
Saudi Arabia
|
57.3
|
48.5
|
0.0
|
70.1
|
0.0
|
362.0
|
413.7
|
155.1
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
377.7
|
789.7
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
542.9
|
India
|
98.2
|
112.8
|
0.0
|
137.1
|
180.1
|
59.0
|
0.0
|
151.8
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
78.7
|
0.0
|
132.8
|
Japan
|
121.5
|
58.7
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
584.2
|
250.4
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
228.6
|
0.0
|
194.7
|
0.0
|
328.6
|
France
|
98.9
|
83.7
|
0.0
|
107.4
|
508.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
151.4
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
0.0
|
By comparing the output of research between the top countries (Table 5), it was perceived that the highest priority (RPI >400) of Coronavirus research have been in the following sub-fields namely ‘Pandemic’ (PND), ‘Epidemiology’ (EPI), ‘Infection’ (INF), ‘Outbreak’ (OUB), ‘Influenza’ (INZ), ‘Vaccine’ (VAC). Moreover, among top subfields Italy has given most priority towards research on COVID–19 (COV), Germany on Coronavirus (CNV), China alone on Severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SAR), South Korea on 2019-nCoV (NCV), France on Pandemic. While most prioritized research (RPI >100) on Vaccines (VAC) was found to be conducted by Saudi Arabia followed by Japan, India and USA.
7.6.Language-wise Distribution
The English is largely considered to be the lingua franca of the scientific community. The study by Weijen (2012) indicated that researchers publishing in English tend to publish most in fields related to the ‘harder’ Sciences, such as Physics, Engineering and Materials Science than ‘softer’ Sciences like health and Social Sciences. The results presented in fig. 6 also indicate that English with 2507 (98.28%) papers is the most preferred language of scholarly communication. It is followed by a few publications in languages like German, Hungarian, Spanish and French.
7.7.Funding agencies
The Table 6 indicates that National Natural Science Foundation of China was found to be provided the highest funds for Coronavirus research with 251 (9.84%) papers. The next five highest number of research grants was provided by National Institutes of Health (NIH) United States, National Key Research and Development Program of China, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) United States and National Science and Technology Major Project, China. Other national institutes that have funded the Coronavirus research include Japan, Canada, Korea, Brazil, European Union, Saudi Arabia and Germany. Moreover, the World health Organization has also been a key funding agency in supporting research on Coronavirus.
Table 6 Funding agencies
Funding Agency
|
Country
|
No. of Records
|
National Natural Science Foundation of China
|
China
|
251
|
National Institutes of Health (NIH) United States
|
United States
|
165
|
National Key Research and Development Program of China
|
China
|
67
|
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
|
United States
|
66
|
National Science and Technology Major Project China
|
China
|
28
|
Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED)
|
Japan
|
17
|
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
|
Canada
|
16
|
National Research Foundation of Korea
|
Korea
|
16
|
Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo
|
Brazil
|
14
|
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
|
United States
|
14
|
Hong Kong Health and Medical Research Fund
|
China
|
13
|
European Commission
|
European Union
|
13
|
Deanship of Scientific Research at King Faisal University
|
Saudi Arabia
|
12
|
World Health Organization
|
-
|
10
|
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft German Research Foundation (DFG)
|
Germany
|
10
|
7.8.Major Research Areas
About 11.96% of publications in Virology’ have resulted in highest number (305) of publications. It is followed by research in General & Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Science & Technology - Other Topics, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. The outputs in other top sub-fields were in the range between 5.53% and 2.94% contributions (Table 7).
Table 7 Major Research Areas
Major Research Areas
|
No. of Records
|
Virology
|
305
|
General & Internal Medicine
|
274
|
Infectious Diseases
|
174
|
Science & Technology - Other Topics
|
154
|
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
|
151
|
Immunology
|
141
|
Veterinary Sciences
|
121
|
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
|
118
|
Microbiology
|
88
|
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
|
75
|
7.9.Journal-wise distribution of publications
The Table 8 indicates that Journal of Medical Virology was found to be published the highest articles on Coronavirus research with 98 (3.84%) papers. The next four highest numbers of publications were from journals- Viruses-Basel, Nature, Journal of Virology and British Medical Journal. Also, it can be observed that even though the high impact factor and cited journals like Lancet, Nature and British Medical journal appeared in the top in terms of publications on Coronavirus but highest publications were from lower impact factor journals mentioned above.
Table 8 Journal-wise distribution of publications
Journals
|
TNP
|
TNP %
|
TNC
|
Impact Factor
|
Journal of Medical Virology
|
98
|
3.84
|
578
|
2.049
|
Viruses-Basel
|
77
|
3.02
|
262
|
3.811
|
Nature
|
51
|
2.00
|
467
|
43.07
|
Journal of Virology
|
45
|
1.76
|
180
|
4.324
|
British Medical Journal
|
42
|
1.65
|
102
|
27.604
|
Eurosurveillance
|
42
|
1.65
|
220
|
7.400
|
Chemical & Engineering News
|
37
|
1.45
|
2
|
1.126
|
Emerging Microbes & Infections
|
34
|
1.33
|
177
|
6.212
|
Lancet
|
28
|
1.10
|
2296
|
59.102
|
Head and Neck-Journal for the Sciences and Specialties of the Head and Neck
|
27
|
1.06
|
7
|
2.442
|