Assessing the Coronavirus Research Output: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine the bibliometric analysis of global publication output on coronavirus, as covered in Web of Science during the period from 2000 to 2019. A total of 10,861 documents were found during a 20-year period spanning from 2000 to 2019 published in the ISI Web of Science. The study analyses annual productivity, most productive source titles, prolific countries, eminent institutions, linguistic analysis and productivity of authors and their contribution in the subject area. The findings reveal that the most productive year of publication was 2004 that included 782 publications with the majority published in the Journal of Virology. The result further indicates that the USA, China and Germany are the most productive countries in the field of Coronavirus research output. In terms of institutional output, University of Hong Kong emerged as the most productive institution; Yuen KY from Hong Kong is the most prolific author. In the subject category type, the most prominent subject field is Virology, Infectious Disease and Veterinary Science. The findings of the study are limited to the data harvested from ‘Web of Science’. This study is of immense relevance to researchers and academicians who are searching for answers to this pandemic. This will provide insights to academicians to collaborate with other researchers based on the quality of the research produced by other countries and institutes. The study is useful for researchers, immunologists and epidemiologists who are interested in the field of Coronavirus and serves as a base for future research.