1 research outputs found
Sleeping beauties and temporal evolution of the coronavirus literature
Temporal evolution of the coronavirus literature over the last thirty years
(N=43,769) is analyzed along with its subdomain of SARS-CoV-2 articles
(N=27,460) and the subdomain of reviews and meta-analytic studies (N=1,027).
(i) The analyses on the subset of SARS-CoV-2 literature identified studies
published prior to 2020 that have now proven highly instrumental in the
development of various clusters of publications linked to SARS-CoV-2. In
particular, the so-called sleeping beauties of the coronavirus literature with
an awakening in 2020 were identified, i.e., previously published studies of
this literature that had remained relatively unnoticed for several years but
gained sudden traction in 2020 in the wake of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. (ii) The
subset of 2020 SARS-CoV-2 articles is bibliographically distant from the rest
of this literature published prior to 2020. Individual articles of the
SARS-CoV-2 segment with a bridging role between the two bodies of articles
(i.e., before and after 2020) are identifiable. (iii) Furthermore, the degree
of bibliographic coupling within the 2020 SARS-CoV-2 cluster is much poorer
compared to the cluster of articles published prior to 2020. This could, in
part, be explained by the higher diversity of topics that are studied in
relation to SARS-CoV-2 compared to the literature of coronaviruses published
prior to the SARS-CoV-2 disease. This work demonstrates how scholarly efforts
undertaken during peace time or prior to a disease outbreak could suddenly play
a critical role in prevention and mitigation of health disasters caused by new
diseases