Scientometrics
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Surg. May 27, 2022; 14(5): 494-505
Published online May 27, 2022. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v14.i5.494
Global research production pertaining to gastrointestinal involvement in COVID-19: A bibliometric and visualised study
Sa'ed H Zyoud, Samah W Al-Jabi, Moyad Jamal Shahwan, Ammar Abdulrahman Jairoun
Sa'ed H Zyoud, Samah W Al-Jabi, Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus 44839, Palestine
Sa'ed H Zyoud, Poison Control and Drug Information Center, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus 44839, Palestine
Sa'ed H Zyoud, Clinical Research Centre, An-Najah National University Hospital, Nablus 44839, Palestine
Moyad Jamal Shahwan, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Ajman University, Ajman 346, United Arab Emirates
Moyad Jamal Shahwan, Centre of Medical and Bio-allied Health Sciences Research, Ajman University, Ajman 346, United Arab Emirates
Ammar Abdulrahman Jairoun, Department of Health and Safety, Dubai Municipality, Dubai 67, United Arab Emirates
Author contributions: Zyoud SH designed the study, collected the data, analyzed the data, made major contributions to the manuscript’s existing literature search and interpretation, and drafted the manuscript; Al-Jabi SW participated in the study design, was involved in interpretation of the data, made revisions to the initial draft, and answered the reviewers’ comments; Jairoun AA and Shahwan MJ corrected the manuscript and answered the reviewers’ comments; all authors provided a critical review and approved the final manuscript before submission.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no financial disclosures or conflicts of interest to declare.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Sa'ed H Zyoud, PhD, Associate Professor, Director, Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Academic Street, Nablus 44839, Palestine. saedzyoud@yahoo.com
Received: March 16, 2021
Peer-review started: March 16, 2021
First decision: May 4, 2021
Revised: May 26, 2021
Accepted: May 7, 2022
Article in press: May 7, 2022
Published online: May 27, 2022
Processing time: 434 Days and 19.5 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Fever and respiratory symptoms are common in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms such as diarrhoea, vomiting, and stomach pain may also occur in some patients.

Research motivation

There was an increase in the number of publications addressing the effect of COVID-19 on the GI system in a variety of countries during the outbreak, according to several systematic reviews and meta-analyses. There has not been a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of research on GI and COVID-19. The aim of bibliometrics is to determine the depth of knowledge in a given area.

Research objectives

The purpose of this study was to report a bibliometric analysis of the global research pertaining to GI involvement in COVID-19 to determine the most widely cited papers and most prolific countries, institutions, and journals related to this topic.

Research methods

We searched Scopus for publications during 2020, and selected articles focused on GI and COVID-19.

Research results

The current data analysis reflects various facets of GI-related publications in COVID-19, including the top countries, institutions, cited articles, journals generating COVID-19 publications, and hot topics in this field. It is critical to determine scientific output through bibliometric analysis to guide researchers on what has already been developed and what is currently being researched so that future research can resolve information gaps.

Research conclusions

COVID-19 GI manifestations and implications for gastroenterologists were of increasing concern, especially in the early stages of the pandemic. As a result, it is suggested that research on this subject be focused on the connection between GI manifestations and potential COVID-19 outcomes.

Research perspectives

Our results will help to guide priority setting and policy formulation for long-term strategies to improve the outcomes of COVID-19 patients with GI manifestations.