Taylor D. Johnson BS, Surav Man Sakya BS, Judy Park Sakya BS, Edwin Onkendi MBChB, David R. Hallan MD
Corresponding author: Taylor D. Johnson
Contact Information: tjohnson11@pennstatehealth.psu.edu
DOI: 10.12746/swrccc.v8i35.739
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the 100 most cited publications focusing on COVID-19 to provide readers with useful historical information on current relevant research.
Methods: A search of all databases and journals accessible in Elsevier’s Scopus was performed on May 13th, 2020. The document search was performed using query “COVID-19,” yielding 6,693 results. A similar search was performed using Thomson Reuter’s Web of Science, yielding 2,593 documents and fewer citations. The top 100 most cited papers were identified, and data were extracted. All references contained within the top 100 articles were collected. Statistical analysis was performed using R-Studio and Bibliometrix.
Results: The top 100 most cited articles were published in 50 different journals from over 25 countries. The most cited article is “Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China” by Huang et al., published in The Lancet with 1184 citations. Included are a list of the top 100 most cited articles, the most cited authors, the top five journals these publications most frequently appeared in, the most contributing countries, the top institutional affiliations, and the top international collaborations of the top 100 most cited publications on COVID-19.
Conclusion: In this study, the top 100 most cited works regarding COVID-19 have been identified and analyzed. This study will serve as a historical reference for future research. This study will also provide an educational guide to facilitate effective evidence-based medical research and offer insight into the developments of COVID-19 research.
Keywords: Scientometric, Bibliometric, COVID-19, Coronavirus
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), also known as “COVID-19,” has been a global tragedy in 2020. In December 2019, a series of pneumonia cases of unknown cause, clinically resembling a viral pneumonia, emerged in Wuhan, Hubei, China. Deep sequencing analysis found that SARS-CoV-2 was a relative of the viruses causing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS); it affects the lower respiratory tract manifesting as pneumonia in humans.2,3 The virus spreads faster than its two ancestors, but has lower mortality.4 As of June 20, 2020, there were more than 8.7 million confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide and more than 460,000 deaths.5 The amount of published works about the virus is staggering, and medical professionals are struggling to keep up.
The aim of this study was to identify the 100 most cited publications focusing on COVID-19. Many medical specialties use bibliometrics to compile, publish, and review the most cited works within their respective fields.6 Our literature search revealed that this has not been done for COVID-19. Analyzing the current status and trends can provide a basis for relevant COVID-19 publications, provide readers useful information about the areas of research performed, provide an educational guide to facilitate effective evidence-based medical research, and provide unique insight into the developments in COVID-19 research.
A search of all databases and journals accessible in Elsevier’s Scopus was performed on May 13th, 2020. The document search was performed using query “COVID-19,” yielding 6,693 results. A similar search was performed using Thomson Reuter’s Web of Science, yielding 2,593 documents and fewer citations. The top 100 most cited papers from Elsevier’s database were identified, and data were extracted, collected, and sorted. All references contained within the top 100 articles were collected, sorted, and counted. Statistical analysis was performed using a combination of R-Studio and Bibliometrix.1
All articles were published in 2020. The most cited article was “Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China” by Huang C et al., published in The Lancet with 1184 citations (Table 1).2 Of the 100 most cited articles, the number of citations ranged from 32 to 1184 (Table 1).
Table 1. The Top 100 Most Cited COVID-19 Articles
The Top 100 Most-Cited Articles For COVID-19 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Rank # | Title | Authors | Source title | Total Citations |
1 | Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China | Huang C. et al. | The Lancet | 1184 |
2 | A novel coronavirus from patients with pneumonia in China, 2019 | Zhu N. et al. | New England Journal of Medicine | 705 |
3 | Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 99 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a descriptive study | Chen N. et al. | The Lancet | 641 |
4 | Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China | Guan W. et al. | New England Journal of Medicine | 570 |
5 | A familial cluster of pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus indicating person-to-person transmission: a study of a family cluster | Chan J.F.-W. et al. | The Lancet | 451 |
6 | A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin | Zhou P. et al. | Nature | 432 |
7 | Genomic characterisation and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding | Lu R. et al. | The Lancet | 379 |
8 | Characteristics of and Important Lessons from the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak in China: Summary of a Report of 72314 Cases from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention | Wu Z. et al. | JAMA-Journal of the American Medical Association | 377 |
9 | First case of 2019 novel coronavirus in the United States | Holshue M.L. et al. | New England Journal of Medicine | 306 |
10 | Clinical course and risk factors for mortality of adult inpatients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: a retrospective cohort study | Zhou F. et al. | The Lancet | 286 |
11 | Transmission of 2019-NCOV infection from an asymptomatic contact in Germany | Rothe C. et al. | New England Journal of Medicine | 235 |
12 | Remdesivir and chloroquine effectively inhibit the recently emerged novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in vitro | Wang M. et al. | Cell Research | 229 |
13 | Pathological findings of COVID-19 associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome | Xu Z. et al. | The Lancet Respiratory Medicine | 189 |
14 | A new coronavirus associated with human respiratory disease in China | Wu F. et al. | Nature | 168 |
15 | SARS-CoV-2 viral load in upper respiratory specimens of infected patients | Zou L. el al. | New England Journal of Medicine | 163 |
16 | Cancer patients in SARS-CoV-2 infection: a nationwide analysis in China | Liang W. et al. | The Lancet Oncology | 151 |
17 | Clinical characteristics and intrauterine vertical transmission potential of COVID-19 infection in nine pregnant women: a retrospective review of medical records | Chen H. et al. | The Lancet | 149 |
18 | Correlation of Chest CT and RT-PCR Testing in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China: A Report of 1014 Cases | Ai T. et al. | Radiology | 139 |
19 | The epidemiological characteristics of an outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) in China | Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Emergency Response Epidemiology Team | Zhonghua liu xing bing xue za zhi = Zhonghua liuxingbingxue Zazhi | 138 |
20 | SARS-CoV-2 Cell Entry Depends on ACE2 and TMPRSS2 and Is Blocked by a Clinically Proven Protease Inhibitor | Hoffmann M. et al. | Cell | 131 |
21 | Breakthrough: Chloroquine phosphate has shown apparent efficacy in treatment of COVID-19 associated pneumonia in clinical studies | Gao J. et al. | BioScience Trends | 130 |
22 | Presumed Asymptomatic Carrier Transmission of COVID-19 | Bai Y. et al. | JAMA-Journal of the American Medical Association | 123 |
23 | Receptor recognition by the novel coronavirus from Wuhan: An analysis based on decade-long structural studies of SARS coronavirus | Wan Y. et al. | Journal of Virology | 121 |
24 | A Trial of Lopinavir-Ritonavir in Adults Hospitalized with Severe Covid-19 | Cao B. et al. | The New England journal of medicine | 119 |
25 | CT imaging features of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-NCoV) | Chung M. et al. | Radiology | 112 |
26 | Risk Factors Associated with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and Death in Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pneumonia in Wuhan, China | Wu C. et al. | JAMA Internal Medicine | 107 |
27 | Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19): The epidemic and the challenges | Lai C.-C. et al. | International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents | 104 |
28 | Clinical evidence does not support corticosteroid treatment for 2019-nCoV lung injury | Russell C.D. et al. | The Lancet | 104 |
29 | Evolution of the novel coronavirus from the ongoing Wuhan outbreak and modeling of its spike protein for risk of human transmission | Xu X. et al. | Science China Life Sciences | 99 |
30 | Importation and human-to-human transmission of a novel coronavirus in Vietnam | Phan L.T. et al. | New England Journal of Medicine | 98 |
31 | Genomic characterization of the 2019 novel human-pathogenic coronavirus isolated from a patient with atypical pneumonia after visiting Wuhan | Chan J.F.-W. et al. | Emerging Microbes and Infections | 92 |
32 | Radiological findings from 81 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a descriptive study | Shi H. et al. | The Lancet Infectious Diseases | 90 |
33 | Time Course of Lung Changes On Chest CT During Recovery From 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pneumonia | Pan F. et al. | Radiology | 90 |
34 | Emerging coronaviruses: Genome structure, replication, and pathogenesis | Chen Y. et al. | Journal of Medical Virology | 89 |
35 | Persistence of coronaviruses on inanimate surfaces and their inactivation with biocidal agents | Kampf G. et al. | Journal of Hospital Infection | 87 |
36 | Clinical characteristics of 140 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, China | Zhang J.-J. et al. | Allergy: European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology | 84 |
37 | A novel coronavirus emerging in China-Key questions for impact assessment | Munster V.J. et al. | New England Journal of Medicine | 81 |
38 | COVID-19: consider cytokine storm syndromes and immunosuppression | Mehta P. et al. | The Lancet | 79 |
39 | COVID-19 and Italy: what next? | Remuzzi A. et al. | The Lancet | 78 |
40 | Are patients with hypertension and diabetes mellitus at increased risk for COVID-19 infection? | Fang L. et al. | The Lancet Respiratory Medicine | 77 |
41 | Cross-species transmission of the newly identified coronavirus 2019-nCoV | Ji W. et al. | Journal of Medical Virology | 70 |
42 | Clinical predictors of mortality due to COVID-19 based on an analysis of data of 150 patients from Wuhan, China | Ruan Q. et al. | Intensive Care Medicine | 70 |
43 | The Incubation Period of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) From Publicly Reported Confirmed Cases: Estimation and Application | Lauer S.A. et al. | Annals of internal medicine | 69 |
44 | A rapid advice guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infected pneumonia (standard version) | Jin Y.-H. et al. | Military Medical Research | 68 |
45 | Updated understanding of the outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Wuhan, China | Wang W. et al. | Journal of Medical Virology | 67 |
46 | Sensitivity of Chest CT for COVID-19: Comparison to RT-PCR | Fang Y. et al. | Radiology | 65 |
47 | Drug treatment options for the 2019-new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) | Lu H. | BioScience Trends | 65 |
48 | Practical recommendations for critical care and anesthesiology teams caring for novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) patients [Directives concrètes à l’intention des équipes de soins intensifs et d’anesthésiologie prenant soin de patients atteints du coronavirus 2019-nCoV] | Wax R.S. et al. | Canadian Journal of Anesthesia | 63 |
49 | An interactive web-based dashboard to track COVID-19 in real time | Dong E. et al. | The Lancet Infectious Diseases | 62 |
50 | COVID-19 and the cardiovascular system | Zheng Y.-Y. et al. | Nature Reviews Cardiology | 61 |
51 | Molecular and serological investigation of 2019-nCoV infected patients: implication of multiple shedding routes | Zhang W. et al. | Emerging Microbes and Infections | 61 |
52 | Chest CT Findings in Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19): Relationship to Duration of Infection | Bernheim A. et al. | Radiology | 60 |
53 | Case-Fatality Rate and Characteristics of Patients Dying in Relation to COVID-19 in Italy | Onder G. et al. | JAMA-Journal of the American Medical Association | 60 |
54 | Critical Care Utilization for the COVID-19 Outbreak in Lombardy, Italy: Early Experience and Forecast during an Emergency Response | Grasselli G. et al. | JAMA-Journal of the American Medical Association | 60 |
55 | The reproductive number of COVID-19 is higher compared to SARS coronavirus | Liu Y. et al. | Journal of Travel Medicine | 59 |
56 | Virtually Perfect? Telemedicine for Covid-19 | Hollander J.E. et al. | The New England journal of medicine | 58 |
57 | Return of the coronavirus: 2019-nCoV | Gralinski L.E. et al. | Viruses | 57 |
58 | Incubation period of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019- nCoV) infections among travellers from Wuhan, China, 20 28 January 2020 | Backer J.A. et al. | Eurosurveillance | 56 |
59 | World Health Organization declares global emergency: A review of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) | Sohrabi C. et al. | International Journal of Surgery | 55 |
60 | Clinical and biochemical indexes from 2019-nCoV infected patients linked to viral loads and lung injury | Liu Y. et al. | Science China Life Sciences | 51 |
61 | CT imaging of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-NCoV) pneumonia | Lei J. et al. | Radiology | 51 |
62 | The neuroinvasive potential of SARS-CoV2 may play a role in the respiratory failure of COVID-19 patients | Li Y.-C. et al. | Journal of Medical Virology | 50 |
63 | Fair Allocation of Scarce Medical Resources in the Time of Covid-19 | Emanuel E.J. et al. | The New England journal of medicine | 50 |
64 | Dysregulation of immune response in patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China | Qin C. et al. | Clinical infectious diseases: an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America | 50 |
65 | Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): A Perspective from China | Zu Z.Y. et al. | Radiology | 49 |
66 | Pattern of early human-to-human transmission of Wuhan 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), December 2019 to January 2020 | Riou J. et al. | Eurosurveillance | 49 |
67 | Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as available weapons to fight COVID-19 | Colson P. et al. | International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents | 46 |
68 | Feasibility of controlling COVID-19 outbreaks by isolation of cases and contacts | Hellewell J. et al. | The Lancet Global Health | 46 |
69 | Emerging 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-NCoV) pneumonia | Song F. et al. | Radiology | 46 |
70 | Structural basis for the recognition of SARS-CoV-2 by full-length human ACE2 | Yan R. et al. | Science | 44 |
71 | The epidemiology and pathogenesis of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak | Rothan H.A. et al. | Journal of Autoimmunity | 43 |
72 | Functional assessment of cell entry and receptor usage for SARS-CoV-2 and other lineage B betacoronaviruses | Letko M. et al. | Nature Microbiology | 42 |
73 | Therapeutic options for the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) | Li G. et al. | Nature reviews. Drug discovery | 42 |
74 | Chest CT findings in 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-NCoV) infections from Wuhan, China: Key points for the radiologist | Kanne J.P. | Radiology | 42 |
75 | High expression of ACE2 receptor of 2019-nCoV on the epithelial cells of oral mucosa | Xu H. et al. | International Journal of Oral Science | 40 |
76 | How will country-based mitigation measures influence the course of the COVID-19 epidemic? | Anderson R.M. et al. | The Lancet | 40 |
77 | Covid-19-Navigating the uncharted | Fauci A.S. et al. | New England Journal of Medicine | 39 |
78 | The origin, transmission and clinical therapies on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak-An update on the status | Guo Y.-R. et al. | Military Medical Research | 39 |
79 | Pulmonary Pathology of Early-Phase 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pneumonia in Two Patients With Lung Cancer | Tian S. et al. | Journal of Thoracic Oncology | 38 |
80 | Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Italy | Livingston E. et al. | JAMA | 38 |
81 | COVID-19: what is next for public health? | Heymann D.L. et al. | The Lancet | 38 |
82 | Defining the epidemiology of Covid-19-Studies needed | Lipsitch M. et al. | New England Journal of Medicine | 37 |
83 | Factors Associated With Mental Health Outcomes Among Health Care Workers Exposed to Coronavirus Disease 2019 | Lai J. et al. | JAMA network open | 37 |
84 | Case of the index patient who caused tertiary transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 in Korea: The application of lopinavir/ritonavir for the treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia monitored by quantitative RT-PCR | Lim J. et al. | Journal of Korean Medical Science | 37 |
85 | Angiotensin receptor blockers as tentative SARS-CoV-2 therapeutics | Gurwitz D. | Drug Development Research | 37 |
86 | Prevalence of comorbidities and its effects in coronavirus disease 2019 patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis | Yang J. et al. | International Journal of Infectious Diseases | 36 |
87 | Convalescent plasma as a potential therapy for COVID-19 | Chen L. et al. | The Lancet Infectious Diseases | 36 |
88 | Characteristics and Outcomes of 21 Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19 in Washington State | Arentz M. et al. | JAMA-Journal of the American Medical Association | 36 |
89 | Potent binding of 2019 novel coronavirus spike protein by a SARS coronavirus-specific human monoclonal antibody | Tian X. et al. | Emerging Microbes and Infections | 36 |
90 | Positive RT-PCR Test Results in Patients Recovered from COVID-19 | Lan L. et al. | JAMA-Journal of the American Medical Association | 35 |
91 | Enteric involvement of coronaviruses: is faecal–oral transmission of SARS-CoV-2 possible? | Yeo C. et al. | The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology | 35 |
92 | Online mental health services in China during the COVID-19 outbreak | Liu S. et al. | The Lancet Psychiatry | 34 |
93 | Pathogenicity and transmissibility of 2019-nCoV—A quick overview and comparison with other emerging viruses | Chen J. | Microbes and Infection | 34 |
94 | The COVID-19 epidemic | Velavan T.P. et al. | Tropical Medicine and International Health | 34 |
95 | Prevalence and impact of cardiovascular metabolic diseases on COVID-19 in China | Li B. et al. | Clinical Research in Cardiology | 33 |
96 | Estimating the asymptomatic proportion of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship, Yokohama, Japan, 2020 | Mizumoto K. et al. | Eurosurveillance | 33 |
97 | Immediate psychological responses and associated factors during the initial stage of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic among the general population in China | Wang C. et al. | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health | 33 |
98 | The SARS, MERS and novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemics, the newest and biggest global health threats: what lessons have we learned? | Peeri N.C. et al. | International journal of epidemiology | 33 |
99 | COVID-19: Gastrointestinal Manifestations and Potential Fecal–Oral Transmission | Gu J. et al. | Gastroenterology | 32 |
100 | Mental health care for medical staff in China during the COVID-19 outbreak | Chen Q. et al. | The Lancet Psychiatry | 32 |
A total of 720 authors contributed to these published works, with reference dates ranging from 1937 to 2020. These articles were written by authors in various specialties, representing over 25 countries, and were published in 50 different journals. X. Li published the greatest number of the most cited articles (55). The top five countries contributing to the top 100 most cited articles were China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Switzerland contributing 53, 17, 8, 5, and 4 articles, respectively. There were 172 reported institutional affiliations with the top 100 most cited articles. Figure 1 illustrates the institutions affiliated with greater than or equal to 10 of the 100 most cited publications. Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University is affiliated with the most articles (37).
Figure 1. Top affiliations associated with greater than or equal to 10 articles.
A total of 32 country to country collaborations were identified, with the most frequent collaboration in the top 100 most cited being between China and the United States. Fifty-three articles had funding sponsors. The top funding sponsors were the National Natural Science Foundation of China which sponsored 11 articles, followed by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the National Basic Research Program of China, which each sponsored 10 articles.
The top five journals were (1) The Lancet with 11 publications, (2) The New England Journal of Medicine with 9, (3) Radiology with 9, (4) The Journal of the American Medical Association with 6, and (5) the Journal of Medical Virology with 4 (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Top 20 journals.
This study sought to identify and characterize the top 100 most cited articles regarding COVID-19 to gain insight into the most influential COVID-19 articles. As the world works to understand and control this virus, it is important to understand the current research landscape. Although the knowledge about COVID-19 is rapidly expanding and changing, this study offers important quantitative information to understand the current progress and trends of COVID-19 research. Furthermore, the most prolific authors and countries were identified to encourage inter-country collaboration among the top active researchers found in this study. The top 100 articles were published in 50 different journals, reflecting the multidisciplinary nature and complexity of this disease. To our knowledge, this is the first bibliometric analysis on COVID-19. The results of our study showed that COVID-19 research is unprecedented with more than 6500 publications in under a year. Moreover, the top cited COVID-19 articles are important for future researchers to consider. This study will serve as a reference for COVID-19 research and an educational foundation for physicians and researchers.
Article citation: Johnson TD, Sakya SM, Sakya JP, Onkendi E, Hallan DR. The top 100 most cited articles on COVID-19. The Southwest Respiratory and Critical Care Chronicles 2020;8(35):42–50
From: The School of Medicine (TDJ, SMS), Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA; Department of Surgery (EO), Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX; Department of Neurosurgery (DRH), Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA; School of Medicine (JPS), Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas
Submitted: 6/22/2020
Accepted: 7/13/2020
Reviewer: Gilbert Berdine MD
Conflicts of interest: none
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.