Science fights pandemic: relationship between COVID-19 related publications and epidemiological data from 200 countries worldwide

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been an unprecedented challenge for the worldwide community also in terms of the access to reliable information. In that, scientific publications have represented the only trustworthy source of information about the challenges of the pandemic and the way COVID-19 and its related infection can be defeated. This study sought to analyze the correlations between 200 worldwide country-based data about scientific publications and those concerning the impact of COVID-19 to understand whether more scientifically productive countries were able to better manage the pandemic. Methods: We made use of open-access, country-based data concerning the pandemic impact and compared them with the nation-based COVID-19-related scientific production. Scientific production was obtained from PubMed for papers published until April 15, 2021, whereas epidemiological data were retrieved from the OurWorldInData portal. Statistical correlations were performed by SPSS v. 23 using two-tailed Spearman’s Test. After Bonferroni post-hoc analysis, p < 0.05 was deemed as significant. Results: Publications data are strongly, and positively correlated with the coronavirus cases, highlighting a greater scientific attention in those countries where COVID-19 had more impact on the population, overall. In addition, the normalized number of publications per inhabitant was negatively correlated with mortality, suggesting a possible higher treatment efficacy in those countries where health literacy was higher. Conclusions: Results obtained probably suggest a higher pandemic penetration in countries with a higher degree of education, where also scientific research is more largely developed, and which are also more ready to successfully treat the affected individuals.