COVID-19 and suicidal behavior: A bibliometric assessment

The paper examines the global research output on suicidal behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Scopus database was used to identify the publications on suicidal behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic from the beginning of the pandemic to up to 17th May 2021. The 686 publications emerging from 78 countries were found on the topic. These publications received 7970 citations, with an average of 11.62 citations per paper. About one-sixth (16.33%) of the total publications were funded, and these publications averaged 17.24 citations per paper. The publications from the top 10 most productive countries accounted for 92.71% of all publications. The highest number of publications emerged from United States, United Kingdom, and India. However, the relative citation index was highest for publications arising from France, Bangladesh, and Germany. The total number of organizations and authors involved in these publications were 286 and 290, respectively. The top 20 most productive organizations and authors contributed to 35.13% and 17.64% of publications and 79.15% and 58.61% global citations share, respectively. The maximum number of papers were published in the Asian Journal of Psychiatry, followed by Psychiatry Research and Lancet Psychiatry. This study suggests that suicidal behavior has received considerable attention during the ongoing COIVD-19 pandemic.