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Updated: Oct 25, 2025
Comparing Bibliometric Analysis Using PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science Databases
Published on: October 24, 2019
COVID-19 Publications in Family Medicine Journals in 2020: A PubMed-Based Bibliometric Analysis
Kuang-Yu Liao1, Yueh-Hsin Wang1, Hui-Chun Li1
1Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei 112, Taiwan.
Insights
Family medicine journals published 409 COVID-19 articles in 2020, focusing on prevention. Their early contributions were significant but represented a small fraction of global research, highlighting a need for further study.
Area of Science:
- Family Medicine
- Public Health
- Bibliometrics
Background:
- Family medicine physicians were crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Research output from family medicine journals regarding COVID-19 is under-examined.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conduct a bibliometric analysis of COVID-19 articles in family medicine journals during 2020.
- To assess the volume, content categories, and timeliness of family medicine research on COVID-19.
Main Methods:
- Bibliometric analysis of articles from PubMed-indexed family medicine journals in 2020.
- Data collection included publication date, author country, and Google Scholar citations.
- LitCovid database used for content categorization and global publication comparison.
Main Results:
- 33 journals published 5107 articles; 409 (8.0%) were COVID-19 related.
- Original articles constituted 26.2% (107 articles); prevention was the main content category (43.3%, 177 articles).
- Early 2020 publications represented 11% of global COVID-19 articles but <0.5% of all disciplinary studies.
Conclusions:
- Family medicine journals play a sentinel role in disseminating pandemic-related information.
- The intensity and timeliness of COVID-19 publications in this field warrant further investigation.
- Further research should explore the contribution and impact of family medicine research during health crises.
Abstract:
Family medicine physicians have been on the front lines of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic; however, research and publications in family medicine journals are rarely discussed. In this study, a bibliometric analysis was conducted on COVID-19-related articles published in PubMed-indexed English language family medicine journals in 2020, which recorded the publication date and author's country and collected citations from Google Scholar. Additionally, we used LitCovid (an open database of COVID-19 literature from PubMed) to determine the content categories of each article and total number of global publications. We found that 33 family medicine journals published 5107 articles in 2020, of which 409 (8.0%) were COVID-19-related articles. Among the article categories, 107 were original articles, accounting for only 26.2% of the articles. In terms of content, the main category was prevention, with 177 articles, accounting for 43.3% of the articles. At the beginning of the epidemic, 10 articles were published in family medicine journals in January 2020, accounting for 11% of all COVID-19-related articles worldwide; however, this accounted for <0.5% of all disciplinary studies in the entire year. Therefore, family medicine journals indeed play a sentinel role, and the intensities and timeliness of COVID-19 publications deserve further investigation.
