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. 2020 May 12;17(10):3370.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17103370.

Identifying Research Trends and Gaps in the Context of COVID-19

Hongyue Zhang  1 , Rajib Shaw  2
Affiliations

Identifying Research Trends and Gaps in the Context of COVID-19

Hongyue Zhang et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the world in different ways. Not only are people's lives and livelihoods affected, but the virus has also affected people's lifestyles. In the research sector, there have been significant changes, and new research is coming very strongly in the related fields of virology and epidemiology. Similar trends were observed after the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) episodes of 2003 and 2012, respectively. Analyzing 20 years of published scientific papers, this article points out the highlights of coronavirus-related research. Significant progress is observed in the past research related to virology, epidemiology, infectious diseases among others. However, in research linked to public health, its governance, technology, and risk communication there seem to be gap areas. Although the World Health Organization (WHO) global research road map has identified social science-related research as a priority area, more focus needs to be given in the upcoming days for multi, cross and trans-disciplinary research related to public health and disaster risk reduction.

Keywords: COVID-19; World Health Organization research roadmap; coronavirus research trends; mitigation; public health and disaster risk reduction; public health preparedness; response and recover; social science research.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Keywords Cloud Map of 2000–2003.
Figure 2
Figure 2
2000–2003 term co-occurrence map.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Keywords cloud map of 2004–2007.
Figure 4
Figure 4
2004–2007 Term Cooccurrence Map.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Keywords cloud map of 2008–2011.
Figure 6
Figure 6
2008–2011 term co-occurrence map.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Keywords cloud map of 2012–2015.
Figure 8
Figure 8
2012–2015 term co-occurrence map.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Keywords cloud map of 2016–2019.
Figure 10
Figure 10
2016–2019 term co-occurrence map.
Figure 11
Figure 11
2000–2019 term co-occurrence density map.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Keywords cloud map of 2020.
Figure 13
Figure 13
2020 term co-occurrence map.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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