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Massive covidization of research citations and the citation elite. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Ioannidis, J. P., Bendavid, E., Salholz-Hillel, M., Boyack, K. W., Baas, J. 2022; 119 (28): e2204074119

Abstract

Massive scientific productivity accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic. We evaluated the citation impact of COVID-19 publications relative to all scientific work published in 2020 to 2021 and assessed the impact on scientist citation profiles. Using Scopus data until August 1, 2021, COVID-19 items accounted for 4% of papers published, 20% of citations received to papers published in 2020 to 2021, and >30% of citations received in 36 of the 174 disciplines of science (up to 79.3% in general and internal medicine). Across science, 98 of the 100 most-cited papers published in 2020 to 2021 were related to COVID-19; 110 scientists received =10,000 citations for COVID-19 work, but none received =10,000 citations for non-COVID-19 work published in 2020 to 2021. For many scientists, citations to their COVID-19 work already accounted for more than half of their total career citation count. Overall, these data show a strong covidization of research citations across science, with major impact on shaping the citation elite.

View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.2204074119

View details for PubMedID 35867747