A bibliometric analysis of the dental scientific literature on COVID-19

Jacimovic, Jelena, Jakovljevic, Aleksandar, Nagendrababu, Venkateshbabu, Duncan, Henry Fergus and Dummer, Paul M. H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0726-7467 2021. A bibliometric analysis of the dental scientific literature on COVID-19. Clinical Oral Investigations 25 , pp. 6171-6183. 10.1007/s00784-021-03916-6

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Abstract

Objectives The rapid production of a large volume of literature during the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak created a substantial burden for clinicians and scientists. Therefore, this manuscript aims to identify and describe the scientific literature addressing COVID-19 from a dental research perspective, in terms of the manuscript origin, research domain, study type, and level of evidence (LoE). Materials and methods Data were retrieved from Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed. A descriptive analysis of bibliographic data, collaboration network, and keyword co-occurrence analysis were performed. Articles were further classified according to the field of interest, main research question, type of study, and LoE. Results The present study identified 296 dental scientific COVID-19 original papers, published in 89 journals, and co-authored by 1331 individuals affiliated with 429 institutions from 53 countries. Although 81.4% were single-country papers, extensive collaboration among the institutions of single countries (Italian, British, and Brazilian institutions) was observed. The main research areas were as follows: the potential use of saliva and other oral fluids as promising samples for COVID-19 testing, dental education, and guidelines for the prevention of COVID-19 transmission in dental practice. The majority of articles were narrative reviews, cross-sectional studies, and short communications. The overall LoE in the analyzed dental literature was low, with only two systematic reviews with the highest LoE I. Conclusion The dental literature on the COVID-19 pandemic does not provide data relevant to the evidence-based decision-making process. Future studies with a high LoE are essential to gain precise knowledge on COVID-19 infection within the various fields of Dentistry. Clinical relevance The published dental literature on COVID-19 consists principally of articles with a low level of scientific evidence which do not provide sufficient reliable high-quality evidence that is essential for decision making in clinical dental practice.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Dentistry
Publisher:	Springer Verlag (Germany)
ISSN:	1432-6981
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	19 January 2022
Date of Acceptance:	25 March 2021
Last Modified:	20 Nov 2024 00:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/146785

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