A Global Overview of COVID-19 Research in the Pediatric Field: Bibliometric Review

Abstract

Background Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a great number of papers have been published in the pediatric field. Objective We aimed to assess research around the globe on COVID-19 in the pediatric field by bibliometric analysis, identifying publication trends and topic dissemination and showing the relevance of publishing authors, institutions, and countries. Methods The Scopus database was comprehensively searched for all indexed documents published between January 1, 2020, and June 11, 2020, dealing with COVID-19 in the pediatric population (0-18 years). A machine learning bibliometric methodology was applied to evaluate the total number of papers and citations, journal and publication types, the top productive institutions and countries and their scientific collaboration, and core keywords. Results A total of 2301 papers were retrieved, with an average of 4.8 citations per article. Of this, 1078 (46.9%) were research articles, 436 (18.9%) were reviews, 363 (15.8%) were letters, 186 (8.1%) were editorials, 7 (0.3%) were conference papers, and 231 (10%) were categorized as others. The studies were published in 969 different journals, headed by The Lancet. The retrieved papers were published by a total of 12,657 authors from 114 countries. The most productive countries were the United States, China, and Italy. The four main clusters of keywords were pathogenesis and clinical characteristics (keyword occurrences: n=2240), public health issues (n=352), mental health (n=82), and therapeutic aspects (n=70). Conclusions In the pediatric field, a large number of articles were published within a limited period on COVID-19, testifying to the rush to spread new findings on the topic in a timely manner. The leading authors, countries, and institutions evidently belonged to the most impacted geographical areas. A focus on the pediatric population was often included in general articles, and pediatric research about COVID-19 mainly focused on the clinical features, public health issues, and psychological impact of the disease.

Global Research Trends in Pediatric COVID-19: A Bibliometric Analysis

“…Compared with Monzani et al's article ( 18 ), the most highly cited articles and top 10 institutions were different. The reason is not just due to the time of bibliometric analysis, but because of the different search strategies.…”

“…The University of Pennsylvania was the institution with the third highest number of published articles and these articles were the most frequently cited in the institutional analysis. Compared with Monzani et al's article (18), the most highly cited articles and top 10 institutions were different. The reason is not just due to the time of bibliometric analysis, but because of the different search strategies.…”

“…Four authors were from Italy, three from the United States, and three from China. Villani, from the University of Padua in Italy, published the most articles ( 18 ). Shao, from Southern Medical University in China, published the second-highest number of articles ( 15 ) ( Table 1 ).…”

“…Our data showed, by September 20 2021, the United States had the most published articles, followed by Italy, the United Kingdom, and China. The published articles of United States, China and Italy maintain the increasing trends ( 18 ). The United States had the most published articles, followed by Italy, the United Kingdom, and China.…”

“…Bibliometric analyses provide quantitative and qualitative evaluations of publications and provide the developing trends of research domains ( 17 ). So far, there was one article about bibliometric analyses of pediatric COVID-19 that studied the articles for 6 months, from January 1, 2020, to June 11, 2020 ( 18 ). There were no similar bibliometric analyses of pediatric COVID-19 after June 11, 2020.…”