The intersection of COVID-19 and air pollution: A systematic literature network analysis and roadmap for future research

Abstract

This paper employs systematic literature network analysis, including a literature review and bibliometric network analysis, to explore the COVID-19 and air pollution literature. A total of 1208 relevant documents from the Scopus database were analyzed using VOSviewer and SciMAT to examine author, keyword, and country interconnections. The paper addresses three research questions: (1) the latest studies on COVID-19 and air pollution, (2) influential authors, documents, and sources in the field, and (3) the study's findings as a roadmap for future research. Visual representations of author and country networks highlight influential entities based on citation rate. Keyword cluster analysis via VOSviewer summarizes connections based on link strength. The strategic diagram generated by SciMAT offers insights into future research directions in specific thematic keywords: (1) air pollution, (2) nitrogen dioxide, (3) epidemiology, and (4) atmospheric aerosol. This analysis enhances understanding of COVID-19 and air pollution and guides future research endeavors.