Affiliation:
1. National Autonomous University of Mexico, Complexity Sciences Center (C3)
2. Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública
3. Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
4. National Autonomous University of Mexico
Abstract
Objective. We analyzed the scientific output after COVID-19 and contrasted it with studies published in the aftermath of seven epidemics/pandemics: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Influenza A virus H5N1 and Influenza A virus H1N1 human infections, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Ebola virus disease, Zika virus disease, and Dengue. Design/Methodology/Approach. We examined bibliometric measures for COVID-19 and the rest of the studied epidemics/pandemics. Data were extracted from Web of Science, using its journal classification scheme as a proxy to quantify the multidisciplinary coverage of scientific output. We proposed a novel Thematic Dispersion Index (TDI) for the analysis of pandemic early stages. Results/Discussion. The literature on the seven epidemics/pandemics before COVID-19 has shown explosive growth of the scientific production and continuous impact during the first three years following each emergence or re-emergence of the specific infectious disease. A subsequent decline was observed with the progressive control of each health emergency. We observed an unprecedented growth in COVID-19 scientific production. TDI measured for COVID-19 (29,4) in just six months, was higher than TDI of the rest (7,5 to 21) during the first three years after epidemic initiation. Conclusions. COVID-19 literature showed the broadest subject coverage, which is clearly a consequence of its social, economic, and political impact. The proposed indicator (TDI), allowed the study of multidisciplinarity, differentiating the thematic complexity of COVID-19 from the previous seven epidemics/pandemics. Originality/Value. The multidisciplinary nature and thematic complexity of COVID-19 research were successfully analyzed through a scientometric perspective.
Funder
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Cited by
12 articles.
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