Objective: We analyzed the scientific output after COVID-19 and contrasted it with studies published in the aftermath of seven epidemics/pandemics: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Influenza A virus H5N1 and Influenza A virus H1N1 human infections, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Ebola virus disease, Zika virus disease, and Dengue. Design/Methodology/Approach: We examined bibliometric measures for COVID-19 and the rest of studied epidemics/pandemics. Data were extracted from Web of Science, using its journal classification scheme as a proxy to quantify the multidisciplinary coverage of scientific output. We proposed a novel Thematic Dispersion Index (TDI) for the analysis of pandemic early stages. Results/Discussion: The literature on the seven epidemics/pandemics before COVID-19 has shown explosive growth of the scientific production and continuous impact during the first three years following each emergence or re-emergence of the specific infectious disease. A subsequent decline was observed with the progressive control of each health emergency. We observed an unprecedented growth in COVID-19 scientific production. TDI measured for COVID-19 (29,4) in just six months, was higher than TDI of the rest (7,5 to 21) during the first three years after epidemic initiation. Conclusions: COVID-19 literature showed the broadest subject coverage, which is clearly a consecuence of its social, economic, and political impact. The proposed indicator (TDI), allowed the study of multidisciplinarity, differentiating the thematic complexity of COVID-19 from the previous seven epidemics/pandemics. Originality/Value: The multidisciplinary nature and thematic complexity of COVID-19 research were successfully analyzed through a scientometric perspective.

中文翻译：

---

COVID-19研究的多学科性质

目的：我们分析了COVID-19之后的科学成果，并将其与以下7种流行病/大流行病的研究结果进行了对比：严重急性呼吸道综合症（SARS），甲型流感H5N1和甲型流感H1N1人感染，中东呼吸综合症（MERS），埃博拉病毒病，寨卡病毒病和登革热。设计/方法/方法：我们研究了COVID-19和其他流行病/大流行病的文献计量方法。数据是从Web of Science中提取的，并使用其期刊分类方案作为代理来量化科学输出的多学科覆盖范围。我们提出了一种新颖的主题分散指数（TDI），用于大流行初期的分析。结果/讨论：有关COVID-19之前的7种流行病/大流行病的文献显示，在特定传染病每次出现或再出现后的头三年中，科学生产呈爆炸性增长并产生了持续影响。随着每次卫生紧急事件的逐步控制，观察到随后的下降。我们观察到COVID-19科学生产的空前增长。在流行病爆发后的头三年中，COVID-19的TDI（29,4）高于其他人群的TDI（7.5至21）。结论：COVID-19文献​​显示了最广泛的主题范围，这显然是其社会，经济和政治影响的结果。拟议的指标（TDI）允许进行多学科研究，将COVID-19的主题复杂性与之前的7种流行病/大流行病区分开来。原创性/价值：通过科学计量学角度成功地分析了COVID-19研究的多学科性质和主题复杂性。