Article type
Year
Abstract
Background:
In early 2020, a pneumonia caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has emerged in Wuhan, China, and rapidly spread to 23 countries around the world.
Objectives:
his study aims to understand the research gaps related to COVID-19 and propose recommendations for future research.
Methods:
A scoping review of COVID-19 was undertaken. We comprehensively searched databases and other sources to identify literature on COVID-19 between 1 December 2019 and 6 February 2020. We analyzed the sources, publication date, study design and research topic of the retrieved studies, and guidelines on COVID-19.
Results:
We included 249 articles in this scoping review. More than half of the studies (59.0%) were conducted in China. The most common type was guidelines and consensuses statements (22.6%). Most (192; 77.1%) articles were published in peer-reviewed journals, 35 (14.1%) on preprint servers and 22 (8.8%) posted online. Ten genetic studies (4.0%) focused on the origin of SARS-CoV-2; the topics of molecular studies varied. Nine (40.9%) out of the 22 epidemiological studies focused on the estimation of the basic reproduction number of COVID-19 infection (R0). Among all identified guidelines, only ten (28.6%) were evidence-based, the rest being interim guidelines. The number of articles published per day increased exponentially until the end of January.
Conclusions:
The number of articles on COVID-19 steadily increased before 6 February 2020. However, they lack diversity and are almost non-existent in some study fields, such as clinical research. The findings suggest that evidence for the development of clinical practice guidelines and public health policies will be improved when more results from clinical research becomes available.
Patient or healthcare consumer involvement:
None
In early 2020, a pneumonia caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has emerged in Wuhan, China, and rapidly spread to 23 countries around the world.
Objectives:
his study aims to understand the research gaps related to COVID-19 and propose recommendations for future research.
Methods:
A scoping review of COVID-19 was undertaken. We comprehensively searched databases and other sources to identify literature on COVID-19 between 1 December 2019 and 6 February 2020. We analyzed the sources, publication date, study design and research topic of the retrieved studies, and guidelines on COVID-19.
Results:
We included 249 articles in this scoping review. More than half of the studies (59.0%) were conducted in China. The most common type was guidelines and consensuses statements (22.6%). Most (192; 77.1%) articles were published in peer-reviewed journals, 35 (14.1%) on preprint servers and 22 (8.8%) posted online. Ten genetic studies (4.0%) focused on the origin of SARS-CoV-2; the topics of molecular studies varied. Nine (40.9%) out of the 22 epidemiological studies focused on the estimation of the basic reproduction number of COVID-19 infection (R0). Among all identified guidelines, only ten (28.6%) were evidence-based, the rest being interim guidelines. The number of articles published per day increased exponentially until the end of January.
Conclusions:
The number of articles on COVID-19 steadily increased before 6 February 2020. However, they lack diversity and are almost non-existent in some study fields, such as clinical research. The findings suggest that evidence for the development of clinical practice guidelines and public health policies will be improved when more results from clinical research becomes available.
Patient or healthcare consumer involvement:
None