key: cord-0883664-j6daypxj
authors: Arab-Zozani, Morteza; Hassanipour, Soheil
title: Features and Limitations of LitCovid Hub for Quick Access to Literature About COVID-19
date: 2020-06-01
journal: Balkan Med J
DOI: 10.4274/balkanmedj.galenos.2020.2020.4.67
sha: 367d51065f6b8e4ad834f81010b05fc81e0f6d99
doc_id: 883664
cord_uid: j6daypxj

nan

We analyzed the publication activity concerned with COVID-19 in LitCovid hub from January 17 to April 05, 2020. Based on a search conducted on April 06, 2020, the total number of articles on this hub was 3011, which was much more than what databases such as Scopus and Web of Sciences (WoS) had in the same period. During this period, 1639 articles were searched in Scopus and 522 articles, in WoS, using conventional keywords. This suggests that more specific articles can be retrieved in this hub, according to the developers. Based on our search, most articles have been published on April 03, 2020 (9.33%) ( Figure 1 ). Most of the published articles were related to China (30.68%), followed by the United States (3.15%) and Italy (3.12%). Most of the articles were published in BMJ (5.87%), Journal of Medical Virology (3.48%), and Lancet (3.12%). The largest number of published articles (21.32%) was in the treatment category (Table 1 ). An important feature of this hub is that it is proprietary and does not require an initial search to retrieve articles about COVID-19. Another important feature is that it is open source, in addition to being updated daily. This hub is also notable for features such as importing records in two ways, RIS and TSV formats, categorizing articles according to subject areas, and having a link for text and data mining, which researchers find useful (4) . Of course, publishers like Nature have also categorized and published their publishers' articles, but the comprehensiveness of this hub is much greater (5) . Indeed, there are some limitations. For example, this hub is based on PubMed database, and articles in other journals that are not indexed in this database may not be traceable. Another limitation is the lack of a dedicated search feature for the content of this hub. It is suggested that these limitations be addressed in the near future and that more specific areas be added to this hub depending on the type of articles, because, over time, rapid access to studies such as clinical trials will be of utmost importance. 

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No conflict of interest was declared by the authors.