Over the past two decades, the world has faced several infectious disease outbreaks. Ebola, Influenza A (H1N1), SARS, MERS, Zika virus and, most recently, COVID-19, have had a massive global impact in terms of economic disruption, strain on local and global public health resources and, above all, human health. We used SciVal and Scopus® data* from 1996 to 2018 to analyze scholarly output, trending topics and top research organizations working to strengthen our understanding of infectious disease outbreaks.

1. CORONAVIRUSES
1996
1997
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
1998
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
1248%
Numberofpublications
SARS OUTBREAK MERS OUTBREAK
EBOLA
1311%
1996
1997
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
1998
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
Numberofpublications
EBOLA OUTBREAK
ZIKA
3319%
1996
1997
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
1998
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
Numberofpublications
ZIKA OUTBREAK
INFLUENZA
74%
1996
1997
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
1998
9,000
8,000
7,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
Numberofpublications
H1N1 INFLUENZA OUTBREAK
Infectious Disease
Outbreaks Research:
Insights and Trends
Over the past two decades, the world has faced several infectious
disease outbreaks. Ebola, Influenza A (H1N1), SARS, MERS, Zika virus
and, most recently, COVID-19, have had a massive global impact in
terms of economic disruption, strain on local and global public health
resources and, above all, human health.
We used SciVal and Scopus® data* from 1996 to 2018 to analyze scholarly
output, trending topics and top research organizations working to
strengthen our understanding of infectious disease outbreaks.
Discover SciVal ›
Shaded area shows period of increased publications
following outbreak and percentage increase during
the period.
Following an outbreak of a disease, we see a
sharp spike in disease-specific publications,
showcasing the research community’s
remarkable ability to quickly respond to public
health needs. This is evidenced by a rise in
publication counts following outbreaks of
SARS, Influenza A (H1N1), Ebola and Zika virus.
Infectious disease
research spikes following
an outbreak

2. 1996
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
1998
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASE
Numberofpublications
315%
1996
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
1998
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
HEALTH SECURITY
Numberofpublications
553%
Among research aimed at understanding new outbreaks, a rise
in publications specifically related to health security suggests an
increased focus on public health preparedness.
Publications on global health security, including analyses of policies
and efforts at surveillance of emerging diseases, have an important role
in supporting preparedness for the next pandemic.
Number of
publications,
1996–2018, on
emerging infectious
diseases. Health
Security is a subset
of publications
related to emerging
infectious disease.
Health security is a focus for outbreak-related research
Scopus® Queries used for the analyses
Coronaviruses: (TITLE-ABS-KEY(“Middle East respiratory syndrome” OR “Severe acute respiratory syndrome” OR coronavirus))
Influenza: ((TITLE-ABS-KEY(influenza)) OR (TITLE-ABS-KEY((flu AND symptom) OR “swine flu” OR “bird flu”)))
Ebola: (TITLE-ABS-KEY(Ebola))
Zika: (TITLE-ABS-KEY(Zika))
Emerging Infectious Diseases: ((INDEXTERMS(human)) AND (title-abs-key(“emerging disease” OR “emerging infectious disease” OR “emerging pathogen”
OR epidemic OR pandemic OR outbreak OR zoono)))
Health Security: ((TITLE-ABS-KEY( “emerging disease” OR “emerging infectious disease” OR “emerging pathogen” OR epidemic OR pandemic OR outbreak OR zoono)) AND
(TITLE-ABS-KEY(“health security” OR “public health response” OR “disease control” OR surveillance)))
annually over the past
two decades
Emerging infectious disease research
has seen an average GROWTH of
6.9%

3. United States
Netherlands
Switzerland
Australia
France
Spain
Canada
Sweden
Brazil
Germany
China
Bangladesh
United
Kingdom
Italy
Footnotes for the following page: :
3
https://www.who.int/csr/sars/country/2003_07_11/en/
4
Dawood, F. S., Iuliano, A. D., Reed, C., Meltzer, M. I., Shay, D. K., Cheng, P. -., . . . Widdowson, M. -. (2012). Estimated global mortality associated with the first 12 months of 2009
pandemic influenza A H1N1 virus circulation: A modelling study. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 12(9), 687-695. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(12)70121-4
5
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/middle-east-respiratory-syndrome-coronavirus-mers-cov-situation-update
6
https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/history/2014-2016-outbreak/index.html
7
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/204348/zikasitrep_5Feb2016_eng.pdf;jsessionid=2E8C110C039D151C1EE6B384A9F064A8?sequence=1
Organization or Institution Sector Country/Region Scholarly Output
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Government United States 1,248
World Health Organization Government Switzerland 514
Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention Government China 338
Harvard University Academic United States 318
Public Health England Government United Kingdom 310
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Academic United Kingdom 268
National Institutes of Health Government United States 240
CNRS Government France 227
Johns Hopkins University Academic United States 227
Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale Government France 216
In terms of publication output (2014–2018), seven of the top ten
organizations publishing health security research are governmental.
Governmental organizations are leading the way
Top institutions
publishing health
security research by
country, color-coded
according to the
sector of the top
institute. Circle
size is indicative of
publication output of
the top institution in
the country.
SECTOR
Government
Academic
Medical

4. © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
SciVal is a trademark of RELX Intellectual Properties SA.
About SciVal
SciVal offers quick, easy access to the research performance of
8,500 research institutions and 220 countries worldwide. For more
information, visit scival.com.
About Scopus
Scopus® is the world’s leading abstract and citation database, and is
used by institutions, governments, as well as for university rankings
around the world. For more information, visit scopus.com.
*All data taken from SciVal on February 1, 2020. Scopus® data from
February 1, 2020 and includes all publication types (articles, papers,
surveys, reviews, editorials, etc.) where search terms were mentioned
in the title, abstract, or keywords.
Hot topics in public health security research
Research on public health security can also be explored using SciVal’s
research topics. These topics were created using a citation-based
modelling approach and permit a different way of finding research
relevant to the field of public health security. The use of keywords
and phrases such as “pandemic,” “global health’” and “World Health
Organization” increased between 2014 and 2018.
Impact of outbreaks
The number of deaths from outbreaks recorded in the last two decades
shows the impact of infectious disease.
For the latest on COVID-19, visit our Elsevier Information Center:
https://www.elsevier.com/connect/coronavirus-information-center
813 deaths3
SARS (2002–2003)
284,000 deaths4
Influenza A H1N1
(2009–2010)
912 deaths5
MERS (2012)
11,325 deaths6
Ebola (2014–2016)
76 deaths7
due to Zika-related
congenital disorders
Zika (2015)