Nigeria's scientific contributions to COVID-19: A bibliometric analysis

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a historic global research effort to create a knowledge base that can guide mitigation strategies. This study uses the Scopus database to examine the literature published by Nigerian institutions since the outbreak of COVID-19, with a focus on bibliometric items, global collaboration, Scopus subject area classification, document types, active authors and institutions, journals, highly cited papers, and funding agencies.

We searched for articles indexed in the Scopus database between January 1st, 2020 and July 20th, 2022 using predetermined search terms. All article types and study designs were included.

During the period under consideration, researchers affiliated with Nigerian institutions published a total of 2,217 COVID-19 papers out of a total of 281,589 global outputs, implying that Nigerian institutions contributed 0.8% of total global COVID-19 scientific output. The majority of the documents published were articles/original research (n = 1,455, 68.4%). The National Institute of Health was the top funder, and the University of Ibadan was the most active institution. The vast majority of publications (38.3%) were in the field of health sciences, with 1197 papers in the medicine sub-category. The top journal was Pan African Medical Journal, which published 114 COVID-19 papers with at least one Nigerian institution affiliation. The most active collaborator with Nigerian institutions was the United States. With 745 citations, the most cited paper with at least one Nigerian institution affiliation was from the Nigeria Center for Disease Control.

Nigerian institutions have contributed to the scientific output of COVID-19. There is, however, a need to improve research capacity across all subject areas.