Análisis de contenido y nivel de evidencia de los artículos sobre COVID-19 más citados en Web of Science

Salvador-Olivan, Jose-Antonio, Marco-Cuenca, Gonzalo and Arquero-Avilés, Rosario Análisis de contenido y nivel de evidencia de los artículos sobre COVID-19 más citados en Web of Science. Profesional de la Información, 2021, vol. 30, n. 6. [Journal article (Unpaginated)]

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English abstract

The scientific literature on COVID-10 has seen unprecedented growth, becoming published so rapidly that it has caused a loss of quality and the peer review process to be questioned. Tis research analyzes the characteristics of the publications with a wider impact on COVID-19, mainly those related to the content, the quality and level of evidence of the studies. Web of Science Core Collection was searched for articles containing the terms COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-19 and the 100 most cited articles published in 2020 were selected. The data extracted included bibliographic data, dates of submission, acceptance and publication in the journals, main topics covered, type of study and level of evidence according to the SIGN scale, and the presence of corrections. Half of the articles were published in 3 journals, most of them in the first months of 2020. The most frequent types of studies corresponded to case series, narrative reviews and expert opinions, with only 1 randomized controlled clinical trial. The articles focused mainly on the clinical characteristics and complications of the patients, diagnostic and treatment methods, as well as the epidemiology and characteristics of the virus. The design of these studies reflects a low level of evidence, and data and scientific quality may be affected by how quickly they are published, and the peer review process is performed.

Spanish abstract

El crecimiento sin precedentes de la literatura científica sobre COVID-19 y la rapidez en su publicación ha llevado a cuestionar la calidad y el proceso de revisión por pares. Este estudio tiene como objetivo analizar las características de las publicaciones con mayor impacto sobre COVID-19, principalmente las relacionadas con el contenido, la calidad y nivel de evidencia de los estudios. Para ello, se buscó en la colección principal de Web of Science los artículos que contenían los términos COVID-19 y SARS-CoV-19 en el campo del título y se seleccionaron los 100 artículos más citados publicados en el año 2020. Además de los datos bibliográficos, se recogieron datos de las fechas de envío, aceptación y publicación en las revistas, principales temas tratados, tipo de estudio y nivel de evidencia según la escala SIGN, así como de la presencia de correcciones. Más de la mitad de los artículos están publicados en 3 revistas, y la mayoría de ellos en los primeros meses de 2020. Los tipos de estudios más frecuentes son series de casos, revisiones narrativas y opiniones de expertos, con solo 1 ensayo clínico controlado aleatorizado. El contenido de los artículos trata principalmente de las características clínicas y complicaciones de los enfermos, métodos diagnósticos y de tratamiento, así como de la epidemiología y características del virus. Los artículos presentan un nivel de evidencia bajo, a pesar de estar publicados en revistas de medicina con muy alto factor de impacto. El tiempo transcurrido entre la fecha de envío y de publicación es excesivamente corto y cuestiona la realización y/o rigor del proceso de revisión por pares.

Item type: Journal article (Unpaginated)
Keywords: Covid-19; Coronavirus; 2019-nCoV; SARS-CoV-2; Análisis de contenido; Nivel de evidencia; Impacto; Pandemias; Información de salud; Publicaciones científicas; Artículos científicos; Web of Science; WoS; Content analysis; Level of evidence; SIGN; Impact; Pandemics; Health information; Scientific publications; Scientific articles
Subjects: B. Information use and sociology of information
B. Information use and sociology of information > BA. Use and impact of information.
B. Information use and sociology of information > BB. Bibliometric methods
Depositing user: Jose Antonio Salvador-Oliván
Date deposited: 11 Sep 2025 14:32
Last modified: 11 Sep 2025 14:32
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/47129

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