College of Information Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China.
China Publishing Group Digital Media Co., Ltd., Beijing 100007, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jul 29;19(15):9311. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19159311.
Contact tracing is a monitoring process including contact identification, listing, and follow-up, which is a key to slowing down pandemics of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19. In this study, we use the scientific collaboration network technique to explore the evolving history and scientific collaboration patterns of contact tracing. It is observed that the number of articles on the subject remained at a low level before 2020, probably because the practical significance of the contact tracing model was not widely accepted by the academic community. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought an unprecedented research boom to contact tracing, as evidenced by the explosion of the literature after 2020. Tuberculosis, HIV, and other sexually transmitted diseases were common types of diseases studied in contact tracing before 2020. In contrast, research on contact tracing regarding COVID-19 occupies a significantly large proportion after 2000. It is also found from the collaboration networks that academic teams in the field tend to conduct independent research, rather than cross-team collaboration, which is not conducive to knowledge dissemination and information flow.
接触者追踪是一种包括接触者识别、登记和随访的监测过程，是减缓传染病（如 COVID-19）大流行的关键。在这项研究中，我们使用科学合作网络技术来探索接触者追踪的演变历史和科学合作模式。可以观察到，2020 年之前，关于该主题的文章数量一直处于较低水平，这可能是因为接触者追踪模型的实际意义尚未被学术界广泛接受。COVID-19 大流行给接触者追踪带来了前所未有的研究热潮，这可以从 2020 年之后文献的爆炸式增长中得到证明。在 2020 年之前，结核病、艾滋病毒和其他性传播疾病是接触者追踪中常见的疾病类型。相比之下，2000 年之后，针对 COVID-19 的接触者追踪研究占据了显著较大的比例。此外，从合作网络中还发现，该领域的学术团队倾向于独立研究，而不是跨团队合作，这不利于知识传播和信息流动。
