Current status of coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine research based on bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Vaccination is considered the most effective way to reduce the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Several new vaccines have been manufactured. This study aimed to assess the current status and prospects of COVID-19 vaccine research using a bibliometric analysis. We analyzed 3,954 scientific articles on COVID-19 vaccines in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). CiteSpace and VOSviewer were used for bibliometric visualization. Original articles and reviews were used for the analysis. A total of 2,783 (70.38%) studies were published in 2021. The USA contributed the highest, publishing 1,390 articles with 41,788 citations, followed by China and the UK. The USA’s primary collaborators were the UK (n = 133), China (n = 87), and Canada (n = 65). The most active institutions were the University of Oxford and Harvard Medical School, while Emory University was the most influential. The Vaccines journal had the most number of publications (402). The most cited journal was the New England Journal of Medicine. In 2021, the focus was on RNA vaccines, attitudes toward vaccination, and hesitancy. In contrast, studies in 2022 focused on vaccine double-blind trials, viral mutations, and antibodies. In the context of rapid virus transmission, vaccine studies on immunogenicity, spike proteins, efficacy, safety, and antibody response have been prioritized. Additional phased clinical trials are needed to determine the effectiveness, acceptance, and side effects of vaccines against mutated strains of the virus.

Ex Vivo Immune Responsiveness to SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.5.1 Following Vaccination with Unmodified mRNA-Vaccine

“…In summary, these observations are in line with published findings regarding the diminishing power of un-adapted SARS-CoV-2-vaccinations to protect against immune escape variants of the virus that have accumulated mutations in the S1/-receptor binding domain [ 12 , 13 , 19 ].…”

“…By now, health care deals with the outcome of a heterogeneous vaccination regimen and continuous asynchronous endemic re-infection by various SARS-CoV-2 mutants. As a consequence, immune responsiveness to SARS-CoV-2 exhibits considerable variability within the population [ 9 ], and individualization of vaccination has become an issue in several countries [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ].…”

“…Therefore, our published data [ 14 ] are probably superseded. To address that concern, we re-tested the post-vaccination sera of the above study with respect to their potency to neutralize the virus strain Omicron BA.5.1, which currently dominates the SARS-CoV-2-endemy in many countries [ 12 , 13 ].…”

Translation in action: Influence, collaboration, and evolution of COVID‐19 research with Clinical and Translational Science Awards consortium support

“…Starting from no specific research on the 2019‐nCoV variant of the coronavirus, a stream of publications was quickly produced at the epidemic onset, mainly consisting of reviews and editorials presenting expert opinions and perspectives based on knowledge of similar viruses and pandemics 12–15 . Early pleas for the vital importance of conducting and sharing empirical COVID‐19 research 16–18 were soon answered with a deluge of publications in the second half of 2020 19–22 . The relatively sparse data contained in early observations were supplanted with an expanding collection of data from more and larger‐scale studies, disseminated and cited at unprecedented rates.…”

High-Cited Papers in Global COVID-19 Vaccine Research

“…A few bibliometric studies have been published on assessment of global COVID-19 vaccines literature, which make the quantitative and qualitative assessment by way of analyzing various features of research output and citations. [7][8][9][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] With the rapid growth COVID-19 vaccines literature, it was difficult to go through such large number of publications appearing in various databases. It is observed that there has been a non-availability of any bibliometric study on HCPs papers on COVID-19 vaccine and any not study providing a quick, comprehensive synthesis of relevant information on the related scientific orientations, gaps, collaborations, themes, or dynamisms on COVID-19 vaccines.…”