How has academia responded to the urgent needs created by COVID-19? – A multi-level global, regional and national analysis

In the context of the most challenging health crisis since World War II that is COVID-19, gaining insights into how academia has responded to this urgent challenge is of great significance. This paper presents academic response patterns at a global, regional, and national level from an analysis of publication volume versus reported cases of COVID-19, scientific collaboration, and research focus. We also compare academic activity associated with this newly-emerging infection to that related to long-standing infections. Our results show that the research community has responded quickly to COVID-19. The highly developed countries, which have the highest number of confirmed cases, are also the major academic contributors. National-level analysis reveals diverse response patterns from different countries. Specifically, academic research in the UK remained at a relatively constant level throughout the whole year (2020), while the global share of China’s research output was prone to shift as its domestic pandemic status changed. Strong alliances have formed among countries with academic capabilities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The distribution of disciplines is relatively decentralized, indicating that a diverse and broad knowledge base contributes to the COVID-19 literature. Most of the analyzed countries show dynamic patterns of research focus that vary over time as the pandemic evolves, except India. As one of the world’s biggest suppliers of vaccines, India makes consistent efforts on vaccine research, especially those related to pharmaceutical preparations. Our findings may serve as resources for fostering strategies to respond to future threats of pandemics.