A new survey of highly cited COVID-19 research papers shows the scientific literature on the novel coronavirus rose at an astronomical pace, from just 14 studies in January and February 2020 to 1,292 studies in November to December 2021. The study is published in JAMA Network Open.
The cross-sectional study surveyed global publications from January 2020 to December 2022 through Essential Science Indicators (ESI) and Web of Science (WOS) Core Collection databases. Studies were evaluated bimonthly through the study period, and the number of publications by research field, country, and institutional affiliation were noted by authors.
COVID-19 brought a glut of scientific literature, especially through preprint servers such as medRxiv and bioRxiv, which post studies before they have undergone peer review.
“The total number of COVID-19–related publications, including preprints, has increased dramatically and now exceeds 350,000 studies” the authors said.