Making waves – the most highly cited articles in the COVID-19 Collection
| 29 September, 2021 | Sheridan Willis |
In 2020, we saw a 40% increase in the number of articles published on Wellcome Open Research compared with 2019, mainly driven by a surge in articles on COVID-19. We’ve had a diverse range of content from clinical and biological through to sociological research, which included several high profile and impactful papers. In this blog post, Sheridan Willis, Senior Associate Publisher at F1000, presents the top five most highly cited COVID-19 articles and shares highlights from the COVID-19 Collection.
Immediate access to robust and rigorous science is essential for informing clinical and public health responses in real time. In April 2020, we launched the COVID-19 Collection on Wellcome Open Research. Created to publish the latest COVID-19 research developments from Wellcome-funded researchers, this collection enables researchers to rapidly and openly share their outputs. It also provides full access to the underlying data and expert peer review, allowing others to reuse, build upon, learn, and further support the global efforts to tackle this pressing public health emergency.
So far, the collection hosts 120 articles. Here are the 5 most highly cited articles:
The article has:
- 142 PubMed citations
- 147 Scopus citations
- 53,773 views
- 4,650 downloads
In this Research Article, Akira Endo and colleagues from the Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases COVID-19 Working Group were one of the first to discuss superspreading, where a single person can infect up to ten others. To identify the role superspreading plays in the pandemic, they studied variations in the transmission of COVID-19 outside China to understand how the virus spreads.
They created a mathematical model using data on the number of imported and local cases in each affected country from the World Health Organization situation report. From this, they figured out that superspreading events aid the spread of COVID-19 among communities and populations. Therefore, Endo et al suggest that intervention efforts must focus on preventing such events by identifying the characteristics and designing effective control strategies around them.
The article has:
- 66 PubMed Citations
- 91 Scopus citations
- 42,468 views
- 2,984 downloads
The team from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London gathered information on reported clusters of COVID-19 cases to determine where transmission occurred (for example, shopping centre, public transport, conference, etc). Their results could inform post-lockdown strategies to avoid resurgences and high case numbers. They identify possible places that are linked to clusters of cases which could be closely monitored, for example by linking to app-based contact tracing.
The article has:
- 35 PubMed citations
- 40 Scopus citations
- 5,240 views
- 496 downloads
Adams et al evaluate diagnostic testing, comparing a laboratory-based home-made ELISA serological assay for COVID-19 with nine commercially available rapid lateral flow (LFIA) immunoassay. They found that current LFIA devices may provide some useful information for population-level surveys, but their performance is inadequate for most individual patient applications. They discuss reliable approaches for antibody testing that can support decision making for clinicians, the public health community, policy-makers, and industry.
The article has:
- 72 PubMed citations.
- 11,748 views
- 1,018 downloads
This analysis adds to the evidence that Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority (BAME) groups are at increased risk of death from COVID-19. The authors from UCL, London, argue for urgent action to reduce the risk of death for BAME groups and to better understand why some ethnic groups experience greater risk.
Actions to reduce these inequities include ensuring adequate income protection, reducing occupational risks, reducing barriers in accessing healthcare, and providing culturally and linguistically appropriate public health communications.
The article has:
- 23 PubMed citations
- 38 Scopus citations.
- 6,560 views
- 1,170 downloads
In this Research Article, the team from Imperial College London and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, evaluate non-pharmaceutical interventions to limit the spread of COVID-19.
They provide a timeline when social distancing measures were implemented across several countries. Timing is key to the success of control measures. However, interventions need to strike a balance between reducing high infection rates while feasible be maintained for an appropriate duration. The authors explore this balancing act, weighing the societal impacts of interventions against the community’s acceptance of public health measures.
Article spotlight
All the articles published in the Collection provide insight and make a valuable contribution to better our understanding of COVID-19, however I wanted to highlight two articles of particular interest. You can find deeper dives into more of the research featured in the collection, including the impact of COVID-19 on adolescent mental health in the UK and state of cancer research and care during the pandemic.
The risk of death in minority ethnic groups in England
Researchers from UCL, London, found that the likelihood of death from COVID-19 is significantly higher among England’s Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority (BAME) groups than the general population.
They used NHS data of patients with a positive COVID-19 test, who died in hospitals in England from 1st March to 21st April 2020. This included data on age, region and ethnicity. They found the average risk of dying in hospital from Covid-19 was around two to three times higher for BAME groups in England, when compared to the general population. for BAME groups in England, when compared to the general population.
Lead author, Dr Rob Aldridge, UCL Institute of Health Informatics, said: “Our analyses show that several minority ethnic groups have a substantially higher risk of death from COVID-19 and that regional differences in where they live may explain some, but not all, of the differences between ethnic groups.”
Co-author Dr Delan Devakumar, Associate Professor at UCL Institute of Global Health and Consultant in Public Health, said: “Rather than being an equaliser, this work shows that mortality with COVID-19 is disproportionately higher in Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups. It is essential to tackle the underlying social and economic risk factors and barriers to healthcare that lead to these unjust deaths.”
The power of tracking COVID-19 research funding in real time
“A living approach was the obvious choice for this work, due to the rapidly expanding funding landscape during the pandemic”, says Alice Norton, University of Oxford. To review all the research projects for COVID-19, Alice and her team used a Living Mapping Review. They published Version four of their Living Mapping Review on Wellcome Open Research, presenting a nine-month update review of all research projects within the COVID-19 project tracker between 1st January 2020 and 15th April 2021.
“I hope that this Living Mapping Review will continue to reach funders, researchers, and the many further policy stakeholders who influence the research funding landscape for COVID-19. It should improve their ongoing funding responses to fill gaps and reduce duplication.”
Unfortunately, the research funding response has started to plateau. So, this Living Mapping Review is even more important to help direct the remaining research funds and activity to areas of continued need and to prevent duplication with ongoing studies.
Publishing a diverse range of content
The COVID-19 Collection welcomes all types of publications related to coronavirus, including but not limited to:
- Clinical trials,
- Clinical case reports,
- Epidemiological modelling,
- Transmission dynamics,
- Collaboratively written policies,
- Protocols,
- Any other information that needs to be shared rapidly.
Readers can stay up to date by using the tracking function which alerts readers to all new articles added to collection, as well as updates to peer review reports, author responses, public comments and the publication of any updated versions.
We encourage our researchers to submit their COVID-19 research to this Collection. Please get in touch if you have any questions, we are here to help.