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Topic · Infectious Diseases

SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing

SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing is a research topic within Infectious Diseases. Science Explorer counts 14k research works in it since 1951. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the development, evaluation, and application of various diagnostic methods for the detection of COVID-19, including RT-PCR, antigen testing, and wastewater surveillance. The papers cover topics such as viral load analysis, saliva and nasopharyngeal swab testing, biosensors, and the challenges and opportunities in COVID-19 diagnostics.

  • COVID-19
  • diagnostics
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • wastewater surveillance
  • RT-PCR
  • antigen testing
  • viral load
  • saliva testing
  • nasopharyngeal swab
  • biosensors
Research works
14k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
1.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+25%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
32% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

Which countries lead SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (1.5k and 1k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.5k works
  2. 2 China 1k works
  3. 3 India 454 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 291 works
  5. 5 Japan 263 works
  6. 6 Canada 251 works
  7. 7 Brazil 238 works
  8. 8 Germany 227 works
  9. 9 Italy 217 works
  10. 10 South Korea 200 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: 31.9%China: 22.0%India: 9.8%United Kingdom: 6.3%6 others listed: 30.0%32%largest
United States1,483 · 31.9%China1,024 · 22.0%India454 · 9.8%United Kingdom291 · 6.3%6 others listed1,396 · 30.0%

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

Which institutions lead SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing research, followed by Harvard University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 57 works
  2. 2 Harvard UniversityUnited States 47 works
  3. 3 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 44 works
  4. 4 United States Department of Health and Human ServicesUnited States 35 works
  5. 5 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 30 works
  6. 6 Stanford UniversityUnited States 28 works
  7. 7 National Institutes of HealthUnited States 28 works
  8. 8 University of Hong KongChina 27 works
  9. 9 Emory UniversityUnited States 25 works
  10. 10 University of TorontoCanada 25 works

Who are the leading researchers in SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing?

The most-cited researchers publishing on SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing include David Moher, Eric S. Lander and Zhong Lin Wang.

  1. 1 David Moher Canada 898k citations
  2. 2 Eric S. Lander United States 524k citations
  3. 3 Zhong Lin Wang United States 491k citations
  4. 4 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  5. 5 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  6. 6 Stacey L. Gabriel United States 402k citations
  7. 7 Robert John Tibshirani United States 396k citations
  8. 8 Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta Pakistan 371k citations
  9. 9 Hermann Brenner Germany 343k citations
  10. 10 Matthias Egger Switzerland 326k 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 SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing?

The most cited paper in SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing is "Presenting Characteristics, Comorbidities, and Outcomes Among 5700 Patients Hospitalized With COVID-19 in the New York City Area" (Safiya I. Richardson et al., 2020), with 9,915 citations. Next come "Cryo-EM structure of the 2019-nCoV spike in the prefusion conformation" (9,833) and "Detection of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) by real-time RT-PCR" (8,218).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Presenting Characteristics, Comorbidities, and Outcomes Among 5700 Patients Hospitalized With COVID-19 in the New York City Area Safiya I. Richardson et al. · JAMA Open access 22 Apr 2020 9,915
2 Cryo-EM structure of the 2019-nCoV spike in the prefusion conformation Daniel Wrapp, Nianshuang Wang, Kizzmekia S. Corbett et al. · Science Open access 19 Feb 2020 9,833
3 Detection of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) by real-time RT-PCR Victor M. Corman et al. · Eurosurveillance Open access 23 Jan 2020 8,218
4 The Incubation Period of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) From Publicly Reported Confirmed Cases: Estimation and Application Stephen A. Lauer, Kyra H. Grantz, Qifang Bi et al. · Annals of Internal Medicine Open access 9 Mar 2020 6,618
5 The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2 Kristian G. Andersen, Andrew Rambaut, Walter Ian Lipkin et al. · Nature Medicine Open access 17 Mar 2020 5,518
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing research done?

The largest centres of SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), London (United Kingdom), Seoul (South Korea) and Tokyo (Japan). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Atlanta.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 201 works
  2. 2 LondonUnited Kingdom 101 works
  3. 3 SeoulSouth Korea 97 works
  4. 4 TokyoJapan 83 works
  5. 5 ShanghaiChina 79 works
  6. 6 GuangzhouChina 72 works
  7. 7 AtlantaUnited States 72 works
  8. 8 TehranIran 63 works
  9. 9 ParisFrance 56 works
  10. 10 New YorkUnited States 52 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. AtlantaUS · 71.6 works4.8×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing than the world average.

See SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing on the map

Where is the best place to study SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Hong Kong, Harvard University and Stanford University score highest, combining 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%mean 16.18%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →McMaster UniversityStanford UniversityUniversity of Hong K…Harvard University
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.

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 of Hong KongChina 73.114.9%4.8×27 +21.0%
2Harvard UniversityUnited States 66.714.8%2.4×47 -7.2%
3Stanford UniversityUnited States 63.916.1%3.2×28 +12.0%
4McMaster UniversityCanada 63.718.2%4.1×14 +65.0%
5Fudan UniversityChina 59.417.3%2.1×20 +40.3%
6Sungkyunkwan UniversitySouth Korea 59.322.8%2.3×10 +66.9%
7Gachon UniversitySouth Korea 59.321.2%6.6×10 +122.5%
8Emory UniversityUnited States 56.811.9%5.2×25 +37.1%
9Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 56.29.7%3.3×30 +21.8%
10Imperial College LondonUnited Kingdom 56.114.9%2.8×17 +15.7%

Universities only. The score blends 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 SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing, country by country

Is SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 25% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021. The fastest-growing topics are SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing.

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 SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.023% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing0.017% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing 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%SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing10.1% in 202520102020

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.

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