Global Research Status and Development of COVID-19 in 2020: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It is currently widespread in the world. This study aimed to access the characteristics of the publications involving COVID-19 by using a bibliometric analysis.Methods: COVID-19 publications published between 1 January 2020 and 31 July 2020 was searched from the Web of Science database on 1 August 2020.The database retrieval was done on the same day. Analysis parameters mainly include publication month, research institutions, authors, journals, countries and cooperation networks among them.Results: A total of 14186 COVID-19 associated articles were retrieved from the Web of Science database, and the quantity of articles increased rapidly month by month. The authors of the top ten manuscripts per number of citations and the most productive institution were both from China. The total publication number of China was as high as 3,029，second only to the United States. Moreover, China ranks first in the number of total citations of articles and the average article citations. The United States has the highest number of total publications and ranks second only to China in terms of the influence of individual articles. Authors, institutions and Countries established a network of close cooperation for research on COVID-19.Conclusion: There was a growing number of articles on COVID-19 around the world, China and the United States are the two most influential countries.