The top 100 most cited articles on COVID-19

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the 100 most cited publications focusing on COVID-19 to provide readers with useful historical information on current relevant research. Methods: A search of all databases and journals accessible in Elsevier’s Scopus was performed on May 13th, 2020. The document search was performed using query “COVID-19,” yielding 6,693 results. A similar search was performed using Thomson Reuter’s Web of Science, yielding 2,593 documents and fewer citations. The top 100 most cited papers were identified, and data were extracted. All references contained within the top 100 articles were collected. Statistical analysis was performed using R-Studio and Bibliometrix. Results: The top 100 most cited articles were published in 50 different journals from over 25 countries. The most cited article is “Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China” by Huang et al., published in The Lancet with 1184 citations. Included are a list of the top 100 most cited articles, the most cited authors, the top five journals these publications most frequently appeared in, the most contributing countries, the top institutional affiliations, and the top international collaborations of the top 100 most cited publications on COVID-19. Conclusion: In this study, the top 100 most cited works regarding COVID-19 have been identified and analyzed. This study will serve as a historical reference for future research. This study will also provide an educational guide to facilitate effective evidence-based medical research and offer insight into the developments of COVID-19 research. Keywords: Scientometric, Bibliometric, COVID-19, Coronavirus