Abstract
Introduction: Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is one of the regions most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, there is scarce literature addressing the research strategies developed in LAC to face COVID-19. Objective: To quantify and assess the production of scientific publications about COVID-19 in 32 countries of LAC between January 1 and July 31, 2020. Materials and methods: Bibliometric study. Scientific papers on COVID-19 conducted in LAC or reporting data pertaining to LAC and published between January 1 to July 31, 2020, were searched in the Scopus, PubMed, and LILACS databases. A subgroup analysis including only original research articles was performed to determine the contribution of LAC countries to research on COVID-19, and standardization measures (# of articles per million people) were applied to compare the country-specific production of this type of articles. Results: A total of 1 291 publications were retrieved. Overall, most of them were non-original research articles (81.72%), and the countries with the highest scientific production were Brazil (43.91%) and Mexico (9.14%). However, after applying the standardization measures, Chile was the country with the highest production of original articles (0.58 per million inhabitants). Regarding original studies (n=236), cross-sectional design was the most common (25.84%). Diagnosis and treatment of the disease was the main research focus (n=354; 27.42%). However, in the subgroup analysis (n=236), epidemiology and surveillance were the most prevalent research focus (n=57; 24.15%). Conclusions: During the study period, non-original research articles were predominant in the scientific production of the LAC region, and interventional studies were scarce among original articles, while the cross-sectional design predominated. Further research with a better quality of evidence should be performed in these countries to contribute to the making of health policies aimed at easing the burden of COVID-19 in the region and preparing for future pandemics.
Highlights
This article was accepted for publication in V69N3 of Revista de la Facultad de Medicina (Journal of the Faculty of Medicine), considering the concepts of the peer reviewers and the changes made by the authors based on said concepts
It should be noted that this version may differ from the final document since it has not completed the final stages of the editorial process
Further research with a better quality of evidence should ió c. be performed in these countries to contribute to the making of health c a policies aimed at easing the burden of COVID-19 in the region and to be lica F prepared for other pandemics to come. b ev
Summary
Este artículo fue aprobado para publicación en el v69n3 de la Revista de la Facultad de Medicina teniendo en cuenta los conceptos de los pares evaluadores y los cambios realizados por los autores según estos conceptos. Se publica la versión preliminar del artículo para su consulta y citación provisional, pero debe aclararse que esta puede diferir del documento final, ya que no ha completado las etapas finales del proceso editorial (corrección de estilo, traducción y diagramación) y solo los títulos, datos de autores, palabras clave y resúmenes corresponden a la versión final del artículo. Descargarse y citarse según se indique a continuación, pero debe recordarse que el documento final (PDF, HTML y XML) puede ser diferente. Cómo citar: Espinosa I, Cuenca V, Eissa-Garcés A, Sisa I.
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