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Topic · Clinical Psychology

COVID-19 and Mental Health

COVID-19 and Mental Health is a research topic within Clinical Psychology. Science Explorer counts 57k research works in it since 1952. 9.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, including anxiety, depression, and psychological distress among the general population, healthcare workers, and specific demographic groups. It also explores the psychological effects of quarantine, social isolation, and the rapid transition to online learning. The papers discuss the need for mental health care interventions and strategies to mitigate the broader health effects of the pandemic.

  • COVID-19
  • mental health
  • anxiety
  • depression
  • pandemic
  • quarantine
  • psychological impact
  • healthcare workers
  • social isolation
  • psychological distress
Research works
57k
fractional, since 1952
In the world top 10%
5.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+47%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
31% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
COVID-19 and Mental Health

Which countries lead COVID-19 and Mental Health research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (5.8k and 2.4k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 5.8k works
  2. 2 China 2.4k works
  3. 3 India 2.1k works
  4. 4 Türkiye 1.6k works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 1.5k works
  6. 6 Brazil 1.4k works
  7. 7 Iran 1k works
  8. 8 Canada 1k works
  9. 9 Germany 905 works
  10. 10 Italy 795 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 31.0%China: 12.6%India: 11.5%Türkiye: 8.8%6 others listed: 36.1%31%largest
United States5,775 · 31.0%China2,353 · 12.6%India2,141 · 11.5%Türkiye1,645 · 8.8%6 others listed6,728 · 36.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead COVID-19 and Mental Health research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill publishes the most COVID-19 and Mental Health research, followed by Islamic Azad University, Tehran and Harvard University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 183 works
  2. 2 Islamic Azad University, TehranIran 142 works
  3. 3 Harvard UniversityUnited States 138 works
  4. 4 University of TorontoCanada 135 works
  5. 5 All India Institute of Medical SciencesIndia 112 works
  6. 6 Universidade de São PauloBrazil 103 works
  7. 7 Sağlık Bilimleri ÜniversitesiTürkiye 97 works
  8. 8 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 95 works
  9. 9 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 95 works
  10. 10 University of MichiganUnited States 73 works

Who are the leading researchers in COVID-19 and Mental Health?

The most-cited researchers publishing on COVID-19 and Mental Health include Ahmedin Jemal, Christopher J L Murray and Simon Iain Hay.

  1. 1 Ahmedin Jemal United States 761k citations
  2. 2 Christopher J L Murray United States 583k citations
  3. 3 Simon Iain Hay United States 452k citations
  4. 4 Theo Vos United States 439k citations
  5. 5 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  6. 6 Ali H. Mokdad United States 429k citations
  7. 7 Walter Churchill Willett United States 411k citations
  8. 8 Richard M. Ryan United States 395k citations
  9. 9 Julian P. T. Higgins United Kingdom 390k citations
  10. 10 Bert Vogelstein United States 373k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in COVID-19 and Mental Health?

The most cited paper in COVID-19 and Mental Health is "Characteristics of and Important Lessons From the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak in China" (Zunyou Wu, Jennifer M. McGoogan, 2020), with 18,071 citations. Next come "The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence" (16,404) and "Immediate Psychological Responses and Associated Factors during the Initial Stage of the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Epidemic among the General Population in China" (10,321).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Characteristics of and Important Lessons From the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak in China Zunyou Wu, Jennifer M. McGoogan · JAMA Open access 24 Feb 2020 18,071
2 The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence Samantha K. Brooks, Rebecca Webster, Louise E. Smith et al. · The Lancet Open access 26 Feb 2020 16,404
3 Immediate Psychological Responses and Associated Factors during the Initial Stage of the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Epidemic among the General Population in China Cuiyan Wang, Riyu Pan, Xiaoyang Wan et al. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Open access 6 Mar 2020 10,321
4 Factors Associated With Mental Health Outcomes Among Health Care Workers Exposed to Coronavirus Disease 2019 Jianbo Lai, Simeng Ma, Ying Wang et al. · JAMA Network Open Open access 23 Mar 2020 8,316
5 Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Ruth A. Baer, Gregory T. Smith, Jaclyn Hopkins et al. · Assessment 27 Jan 2006 7,643
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is COVID-19 and Mental Health research done?

The largest centres of COVID-19 and Mental Health research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Istanbul (Türkiye), Tehran (Iran) and New York (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Iranshahr.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 460 works
  2. 2 IstanbulTürkiye 363 works
  3. 3 TehranIran 323 works
  4. 4 New YorkUnited States 302 works
  5. 5 BeijingChina 289 works
  6. 6 São PauloBrazil 269 works
  7. 7 SeoulSouth Korea 260 works
  8. 8 TorontoCanada 220 works
  9. 9 New DelhiIndia 210 works
  10. 10 AnkaraTürkiye 203 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. IranshahrIR · 43.6 works17×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in COVID-19 and Mental Health than the world average.

See COVID-19 and Mental Health on the map

Where is the best place to study COVID-19 and Mental Health?

Among universities, judged by research, University College London, University of Oxford and Harvard University score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 20.4%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of OxfordUniversity College L…Harvard UniversityUniversity of Toronto
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University College LondonUnited Kingdom 74.919.3%2.2×95 +14.0%
2University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 73.925.8%1.3×52 +17.2%
3Harvard UniversityUnited States 71.518.9%1.6×138 +5.3%
4University of TorontoCanada 70.113.2%2.4×135 +57.5%
5Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 70.021.5%1.8×43 +99.5%
6The University of MelbourneAustralia 68.919.9%1.9×58 +46.9%
7Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 68.417.0%2.2×95 +39.8%
8Education University of Hong KongChina 68.426.1%6.0×24 +82.4%
9Universität HamburgGermany 68.024.0%2.0×40 +111.7%
10Chinese University of Hong KongChina 66.818.3%2.5×49 +29.6%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in COVID-19 and Mental Health, country by country

Is COVID-19 and Mental Health research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 47% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021. The fastest-growing topics are COVID-19 and Mental Health.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is COVID-19 and Mental Health as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.11% in 2024.

still counting0.10%0.20%0.30%COVID-19 and Mental Health0.072% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of COVID-19 and Mental Health over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%COVID-19 and Mental Health10.1% in 20252020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

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