PurposeThis paper aims to explore the development trend of OA articles and their advantages and disadvantages in the process of fighting the pandemic, and conduct a multi-level and multi-angle analysis of the relationship between publishing costs and the influence of OA articles.Design/methodology/approachThis study first compares the total number of articles in Web of Science with the number of OA articles, and the total number of COVID-19 related articles with the total number of OA articles. Subsequently, using the methods of institutional cooperation co-occurrence network, keyword co-occurrence and multidimensional scale analysis, and using the literature on the topic of COVID-19 in CNKI (Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure) as the data set, we generate visualized maps of research results distribution and keyword co-occurrence network with the help of the Statistical Analysis Toolkit for Infometrics (SATI)FindingsThe research results show that the citation frequency and use frequency of OA articles related to COVID-19 are significantly higher than that of non-OA articles. OA articles dominate in the anti-pandemic process, with a series of advantages such as short review cycle, timeliness, high social benefit, high participation and fast dissemination playing an important role. Under the model of author's non-payment for OA article, the degree of institutional cooperation and author cooperation is enhanced, which improves the fluidity of knowledge, strengthens close links between keywords and enhances significant academic influence; OA articles will continue to promote research in the field of COVID-19, but the lack of quality of some OA articles may hinder their development. Then OA articles will further focus on clinical medicine, and related results will continue to promote the development and communication of OA articles in this field.Originality/valueCorresponding measures are also proposed for the existing problems of OA articles, to provide a reference for the publication and dissemination of OA articles in public health emergencies in the future.