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. 2015 Mar 13:4:68.
doi: 10.12688/f1000research.6206.2. eCollection 2015.

Publications in PubMed on Ebola and the 2014 outbreak

Affiliations

Publications in PubMed on Ebola and the 2014 outbreak

Andrea Ballabeni et al. F1000Res. .

Abstract

In this research note we examine the biomedical publication output about Ebola in 2014. We show that the volume of publications has dramatically increased in the past year. In 2014 there have been over 888 publications with 'ebola' or 'ebolavirus' in the title, approximately 13 times the volume of publication of 2013. The rise reflects an impressive growth starting in the month of August, concomitant with or following the surge in infections, deaths and coverage in news and social media. Though non-research articles have been the major contributors to this growth, there has been a substantial increase in original research articles too, including many papers of basic science. The United States has been the country with the highest number of research articles, followed by Canada and the United Kingdom. We present a comprehensive set of charts and facts that, by describing the volumes and nature of publications in 2014, show how the scientific community has responded to the Ebola outbreak and how it might respond to future similar global threats and media events. This information will assist scholars and policymakers in their efforts to improve scientific research policies with the goal of maximizing both public health and knowledge advancement.

Keywords: Ebola; Pubmed; publications.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: No competing interests were disclosed.

Figures

Figure S1.
Figure S1.. Numbers of 2014 citations with ‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title, title/abstract or all fields.
Figure S2.
Figure S2.. Number of 2014 citations with ‘ebola’ vs ‘ebolavirus’ in title field.
Figure S3.
Figure S3.. Numbers of citations with ‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title from 1995 to 2014.
Figure S4.
Figure S4.. Numbers of citations (abstract available) with ‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title from 1995 to 2014.
Figure S5.
Figure S5.. Proportions of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) with abstract available from 2005 to 2014.
Figure S6.
Figure S6.. Proportions of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) by different PubMed ‘article type’ filters.
Year 2014.
Figure S7.
Figure S7.. Proportions of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) with abstract available by different PubMed ‘article type’ filters.
Year 2014.
Figure S8.
Figure S8.. Proportions of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) in English, by text availability and by presence of PubMed Commons comments.
Year 2014.
Figure S9.
Figure S9.. Proportions of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) with abstract available in English, by text availability and by presence of PubMed Commons comments.
Year 2014.
Figure S10.
Figure S10.. Proportions of ‘article journal’ citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) in English, by text availability and by presence of PubMed Commons comments.
Year 2014.
Figure S11.
Figure S11.. Proportion of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) with abstract available that are ‘journal articles’ and proportion of ‘journal article’ citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) that have an abstract available.
Year 2014.
Figure S12.
Figure S12.. Proportions of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) with the indicated search terms in the title/abstract.
Year 2014.
Figure S13.
Figure S13.. Proportions of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) with the indicated search terms in the title/abstract.
Year 2014.
Figure S14.
Figure S14.. Proportions of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) with abstract available with the indicated search terms in the title/abstract.
Year 2014.
Figure S15.
Figure S15.. Proportions of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) with abstract available with the indicated search terms in the title/abstract.
Year 2014.
Figure S16.
Figure S16.. Proportions of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) with the search term ‘clinical trial’ in the title/abstract.
The number of publications about original clinical trial studies is also indicated. Year 2014.
Figure S17.
Figure S17.. Numbers of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) per month.
Year 2014.
Figure S18.
Figure S18.. Numbers of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) with abstract available per month.
Year 2014.
Figure S19.
Figure S19.. Subjective classification for ‘current outbreak’ focus of 2014 citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title).
Remaining citations were assigned to one (and only one) of the indicated discipline/area categories. Year 2014.
Figure S20.
Figure S20.. Subjective classification for current outbreak focus or, alternatively, for the indicated discipline/area categories of 2014 citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) per month.
Citations were assigned to one (and only one) category, similarly to Figure S19. Year 2014.
Figure S21.
Figure S21.. Numbers of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) during 2014 with search term ‘ outbreak’ in title/abstract.
Figure S22.
Figure S22.. Numbers of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) during 2014 with search term ‘ Africa’ in title/abstract.
Figure S23.
Figure S23.. Numbers of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) during 2014 with search terms ‘ vaccine’ or ‘ vaccines’ in title/abstract.
Figure S24.
Figure S24.. Numbers of total biomedical citations of the 20 countries with most total biomedical publications.
Year 2014.
Figure S25.
Figure S25.. Numbers of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) of the 20 countries with most total biomedical publications.
Year 2014.
Figure S26.
Figure S26.. ‘Attraction scores’ for citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) of the 20 countries with most total biomedical publications.
‘Attraction scores’ were calculated by dividing the number of Ebola-related citations by the total biomedical citations of the country and by multiplying by 10,000. Year 2014.
Figure S27.
Figure S27.. Proportions of total citations with abstract available of the 20 countries with most total biomedical publications.
Year 2014.
Figure S28.
Figure S28.. Numbers of total citations with abstract available of the 20 countries with most total biomedical publications.
Year 2014.
Figure S29.
Figure S29.. Numbers of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) with abstract available of the 20 countries with most total biomedical publications.
Year 2014.
Figure S30.
Figure S30.. ‘Attraction scores’ for citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) with abstract available of the 20 countries with most total biomedical publications.
‘Attraction scores’ were calculated by dividing the number of Ebola-related citations by the total biomedical citations of the country and by multiplying by 10,000. Year 2014.
Figure S31.
Figure S31.. Numbers of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) of the six countries with most Ebola-related publications.
Citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) with abstract available are also shown. Year 2014.
Figure S32.
Figure S32.. ‘Manual’ control test of the method for country affiliation attribution.
Numbers of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) with abstract available of the six countries with most Ebola-related publications. The numbers of publications automatically retrieved or with real ‘any author’, ‘first author’ or ‘last author’ with the proper country affiliation are indicated. 100% of the citations had at least one author (‘any author’) with the proper country affiliation, thus indicating accuracy of the method. Year 2014.
Figure S33.
Figure S33.. Subjective classification for article type of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) with abstract available of the United States and Canada, the two countries with most Ebola-related publications with abstract available.
Year 2014.
Figure S34.
Figure S34.. Subjective classification for discipline/area of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) with abstract available of the United States and Canada, the two countries with most Ebola-related publications with abstract available.
Citations were assigned only to the more relevant category, except citations related to specific aspects of the 2014 outbreak that were assigned optionally and in addition to the other categories. Year 2014.
Figure S35.
Figure S35.. Numbers of total biomedical citations and citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, the three countries with most Ebola cases.
Year 2014.
Figure S36.
Figure S36.. ‘Manual’ control test of the method for country affiliation attribution.
Numbers of citations (‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title) with abstract available of the three countries with most Ebola cases. The numbers of publications automatically retrieved or with real ‘any author’, ‘first author’ or ‘last author’ with the proper country affiliation are indicated. Year 2014.
Figure S37.
Figure S37.. Numbers of 2013 and 2014 citations with ‘ebola’ or ‘ebolavirus’ in title, title/abstract or all fields.
Pie chart sizes of 2013 and 2014 are in proportion according to the respective numbers of citations. Searches were made in September 2015 (‘Update September 2015’ sheet).

References

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