In this week’s update, we are presenting something slightly different; the current focus of the COVID-19 literature, based on publications registered in PubMed as published in the past 3 weeks (21 days). This resulted in 6001 publications. There were 677 keywords that occurred in five or more manuscripts. These divided into five main clusters. To create the map, we used the LinLog method. The minimum cluster size was set to 15.
- Cluster 1 (red) covers literature focusing on Public health strategies, treatment, and the global impact of COVID-19.
- Cluster 2 (green) includes literature on the role of existing drugs and vaccines in the current pandemic.
- Cluster 3 (blue) focuses on demographics and risk factors.
- Cluster 4 (yellow) covers literature concentrated on understanding the nature of the virus.
- Cluster 5 (Purple) addresses the association between COVID-19 and mental health.
We find it interesting that there does not seem to be a big shift in publication focus from earlier in the pandemic; however, expect this to change as more time has elapsed, allowing for other types of studies to mature and be ready for publication, especially on topics relating to social consequences of the pandemic.
Table of the most central keywords in each cluster
(Centrality measure used is weighted degree centrality/total link strength)
| Cluster 1 | Cluster 2 | Cluster 3 | Cluster 4 | Cluster 5 |
| pandemic | sars | female | clinical laboratory techniques | surveys and questionnaires |
| coronavirus infection | antiviral agents | male | rna, viral | anxiety |
| viral pneumonia | animals | middle aged | real time polymerase chain reaction | prevalence |
| betacoronavirus | antibodies, viral | adult | viruses | mental health |
| italy | hydroxychloroquine | aged | pneumonia | cross-sectional studies |
| united states | cytokines | china | sensitivity and specificity | depression |
| telemedicine | inflammation | risk factor | reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction | stress, psychological |
| quarantine | peptidyl-dipeptidase a | young adult | epidemiology | cancer |
| public health | viral vaccines | retrospective studies | zoonosis | health knowledge, attitudes, practice |
| personal protective equipment | spike glycoprotein, coronavirus | aged, 80 and over | nasopharynx | fear |
| disease outbreaks | cytokine release syndrome | adolescent | infection | social media |
| infection control | thrombosis | children | immunoglobulin g | family |
| pregnancy | cardiovascular diseases | treatment outcome | respiratory infections | olfaction disorders |
| health personnel | vaccine | severity of illness index | outbreak | students |
| spain | renin-angiotensin system | lung | transmission | adaptation, psychological |
| cities | influenza, human | hospitalization | serological test | communication |
| incidence | mice | time factors | patient selection | stress |
| air pollution | angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors | prognosis | viral load | emotions |
| practice guidelines as topic | chloroquine | tomography, x-ray computed | immunoglobulin m | smell |
| global health | immunologic factors | risk assessment | diagnosis, differential | ageusia |
To open the map directly in VOSviewer, please use the latest MAP and NET files, available through the Open Science Foundation (OSF) repository:
https://osf.io/54gqw/