Table 1
Medians and interquartile (25th–75th Percentile) ranges of National Metrics of Research outputs, pre‑COVID‑19 and COVID‑19 related, overall and by World Bank Income Group and World Health Organization Region, of countries with population >100,000 (N = 180).
| METRIC* | OVERALL | WORLD BANK INCOME GROUP | WHO REGION | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | MIDDLE | HIGH | AFRICA | AMERICAS | EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN | EUROPE | SOUTH‑EAST ASIA | WESTERN PACIFIC | ||
| Pre‑COVID‑19 (2018–19) | ||||||||||
| Average annual number of health science publications | 415 (108–3398.5) | 122.5 (49–245) | 283 (82.0–1455.5) | 7411.5 (801–18338.5) | 166 (63.5–410) | 192 (82–1188) | 1417 (222–2498.5) | 2325 (476–14682) | 816 (41–3136) | 179 (28.5–7302.5) |
| Average annual number of clinical trials | 21 (4–273) | 8 (3.5–13) | 12 (2.5–84.5) | 357.5 (29.5–1132) | 8 (3–17.5) | 9.5 (3–72) | 26 (7–91) | 352 (27.5–829) | 27 (7–81) | 7.5 (1.5–344.5) |
| COVID‑19 (2020–21) | ||||||||||
| Average annual number of COVID‑19‑related publications | 85 (18–798) | 24 (9.5–68) | 48.5 (11–422) | 808 (164–1886.5) | 30 (9–85) | 48.5 (11.5–490) | 382 (74.5–869.5) | 400 (87–1369) | 186 (9.5–932) | 24 (4–1434.5) |
| Average annual number of COVID‑19‑related clinical trials | 1.5 (0–11) | 0.5 (0–1.5) | 1 (0–5) | 12.5 (2–30) | 1 (0–2) | 1 (0–11.5) | 2.5 (0.5–5.5) | 7 (1–26) | 4 (0–11.5) | 0 (0–13) |
[i] *Values are the medians and interquartile ranges of the two‑year average numbers of publications or clinical trials in the 180 countries included in the analysis.
Figure 1A
World Map of quintiles of the aggregate measure of pre‑COVID‑19 research activity (number of Health Science publications and clinical trials, 2018–19). A darker hue corresponds to a higher aggregate measure.
Figure 1B
World Map of quintiles of the aggregate measure of COVID‑19‑related research output (number of COVID‑19‑related publications and clinical trials, 2020–21). A darker hue corresponds to a higher aggregate measure.
Figure 2
Scatterplot of National Aggregate Metric of pre‑COVID research activity 2018–19 vs. National Aggregate Metric of COVID‑19‑related research output, 2020–21 in countries with population >100,000 (N = 180). R‑squared 0.89; Kendall’s tau 0.81.
Table 2
Correlation statistics of country characteristics with National Aggregate Metric of COVID‑19‑related research output (publications and clinical trials, 2020–21), countries with population >100,000 (N = 180).
| COUNTRY CHARACTERISTICS | R‑SQUARED (DESCENDING ORDER) | KENDALL’S TAU |
|---|---|---|
| Aggregate metric of pre‑COVID research activity | 0.89 | 0.81 |
| Human Development Index | 0.26 | 0.36 |
| COVID‑19 case number | 0.16 | 0.65 |
| COVID‑19 case rate | 0.14 | 0.32 |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | 0.11 | 0.68 |
| Population | 0.10 | 0.43 |
Table 3
Multivariable linear regression analysis of predictors of COVID‑19‑related research output (publications and clinical trials, 2020–21), countries with population >100,000 and complete data (N = 178).
| COUNTRY CHARACTERISTICS | UNADJUSTED | ADJUSTED | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COEFFICIENT | P‑VALUE | COEFFICIENT | P‑VALUE | |
| Aggregate metric of pre‑COVID research activity | 1.00 | <0.001 | 1.01 | <0.001 |
| Human Development Index | 0.98 | <0.001 | −0.0596 | 0.33 |
| COVID‑19 case number | 2.33 × 10−8 | <0.001 | 1.58 × 10−9 | 0.46 |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | 4.49 × 10−14 | <0.001 | −1.81 × 10−15 | 0.72 |
| Population | 6.19 × 10−10 | <0.001 | 3.76 × 10−11 | 0.52 |