Current Trend of Hydroxychloroquine Research Publications: A Scientometric Analysis

Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is one of the extensively used preventive drug in the world. In order to filter out the research strength and weaknesses of research areas of HCQ publications of selective countries, the present study analyses the thematic or subject specialization index, relative priority index, and relative specialization index of hydroxychloroquine research publications from 1989 to 10th June 2020. The top thirty-five productive research areas and fifteen leading countries have been taken for this analysis. The analysis identifies the 209 significant active sub-specialized research areas of the HCQ research of the highest productive countries. India was found to be the most specialized country in Hydroxychloroquine research. Public Environmental Occupational Health is the most specialized research area of HCQ publication. The most significant number of HCQ research publications output is coming under the research areas Rheumatology. The most significant number of research growth was observed in the year 2019. The implications of the study are discussed.

Keywords: Hydroxychloroquine, publication efficiency index, Relative Priority Index, Relative Specialization Index, scientometrics, Thematic or Subject Specialization Index.