COVID-19 and the scientific publishing system: growth, open access and scientific fields

Decoding trends in mRNA vaccine research: A comprehensive bibliometric study

BACKGROUND

In recent years, infectious diseases like COVID-19 have had profound global socio-economic impacts. mRNA vaccines have gained prominence due to their rapid development, industrial adaptability, simplicity, and responsiveness to new variants. Notably, the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine recognized significant contributions to mRNA vaccine research.

METHODS

Our study employed a comprehensive bibliometric analysis using the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database, encompassing 5,512 papers on mRNA vaccines from 2003 to 2023. We generated cooperation maps, co-citation analyses, and keyword clustering to evaluate the field's developmental history and achievements.

RESULTS

The analysis yielded knowledge maps highlighting countries/institutions, influential authors, frequently published and highly cited journals, and seminal references. Ongoing research hotspots encompass immune responses, stability enhancement, applications in cancer prevention and treatment, and combating infectious diseases using mRNA technology.

CONCLUSIONS

mRNA vaccines represent a transformative development in infectious disease prevention. This study provides insights into the field's growth and identifies key research priorities, facilitating advancements in vaccine technology and addressing future challenges.

Biosocial Technical Systems: An Emerging Approach to Analyse Responses to Novel Diseases

The COVID-19 pandemic emerged in the context of a parallel epidemic of information, namely an infodemic. With the development of vaccines occurring in record time, a disinformation campaign ensued rendering the infodemic ever more troubling. As COVID-19 had to be curbed with vaccines opinion pools and surveys indicated that a minority, but relevant, part of the general public had weakened trust in public health policies and also on governmental responses to the pandemic in general. This dissent in public opinion on pandemic response is interpreted in this chapter as a controversy related to the efficacy and risks associated to vaccines. Such controversy gained momentum partly because traditional scientific communication has been largely unidirectional rather than bi-directional. We propose to apply a novel biosocial technical perspective to examine the COVID-19 pandemic controversy and communication, articulating social, biological and technical issues. The interaction between COVID-19 and vaccines, i.e. artefact-biological interactions, resulted in vaccine development in record time. However, the interaction between social systems and vaccine as artefacts was plagued by partial public reluctance in their acceptance. This rendered communication efforts ever more relevant, bringing lessons related to the importance of a more fluid bi-directional communication in future disease epidemics.

Energy efficient ventilation and indoor air quality in the context of COVID-19 - A systematic review

New COVID-19 ventilation guidelines have resulted in higher energy consumption to maintain indoor air quality (IAQ), and energy efficiency has become a secondary concern. Despite the significance of the studies conducted on COVID-19 ventilation requirements, a comprehensive investigation of the associated energy challenges has not been discussed. This study aims to present a critical systematic review of the Coronavirus viral spreading risk mitigation through ventilation systems (VS) and its relation to energy use. COVID-19 heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC)-related countermeasures proposed by industry professionals have been reviewed and their influence on operating VS and energy consumption have also been discussed. A critical review analysis was then conducted on publications from 2020 to 2022. Four research questions (RQs) have been selected for this review concerning i) maturity of the existing literature, ii) building types and occupancy profile, iii) ventilation types and effective control strategies and iv) challenges and related causes. The results reveal that employing HVAC auxiliary equipment is mostly effective and increased fresh air supply is the most significant challenge associated with increased energy consumption due to maintaining IAQ. Future studies should focus on novel approaches toward solving the apparently conflicting objectives of minimizing energy consumption and maximizing IAQ. Also, effective ventilation control strategies should be assessed in various buildings with different occupancy densities. The implications of this study can be useful for future development of this topic not only to enhance the energy efficiency of the VS but also to enable more resiliency and health in buildings.

Against Authority: The Bioethics of Ivermectin Use for COVID-19 Infection

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new ethical challenges to both health care professionals and the general public. Among the ethical problems amplified during this period were the making of medical decisions to quickly introduce some drugs into therapeutic practice with unproven or insufficiently proven effects (such as ivermectin), the validity of drug testing, and the allocation of limited resources.

FIELDS OF UNCERTAINTY

The COVID-19 pandemic brought to the attention of the entire scientific world a new problem, which exceeded the guidelines and rules known until then. Out of the desire to quickly solve this medical problem, a series of measures were taken, however not sufficiently validated in scientific terms; the recommendations regarding the use of drugs known for their properties to treat a greater number of conditions, such as ivermectin, was tried.

DATA SOURCES

A narrative review of the specialized literature was carried out using keywords such as COVID-19, ivermectin, ethics, and off-label medication from Scopus and Google Scholar but also of official documents developed at the international level (World Health Organization).

ETHICS AND THERAPEUTIC ADVANCES

The off-label use of ivermectin alone or in combination with other medications during COVID pandemic raised problems related to the demonstration of its effectiveness, but also to ethics, starting from the expectations that both the medical staff and the population had of it. Ivermectin therapy was also evaluated by analyzing the behavior of ivermectin based on ethical principles (nonmaleficence, beneficence, and respect for one's autonomy) or on justice. Even in times of pandemic, exceptionalism must not triumph, and finding an effective treatment must be done through studies that respect ethical standard.

CONCLUSIONS

The failures or rather lack of success in decision making during the pandemic showed that alongside scientific knowledge and the development of health policies, it is necessary to constantly evaluate the measures and decisions from an ethical point of view, and the prevention of slippages and abuses is not only necessary but even mandatory.