In the Fight to End the Pandemic, Knowledge Is Power

What you need to know

The NIH Office of Portfolio Analysis (OPA) has a tool called iSearch that collects important research into one searchable database. In response to the pandemic, OPA created a special COVID-19 portfolio in iSearch that acts as a highly specialized search engine to help anyone — from researchers to the general public — find specific topics and types of studies on COVID-19.

The iSearch COVID-19 portfolio is an expert-selected library of scientific articles related to COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The portfolio contains published articles from platforms like PubMed and preprints (journal articles that haven’t been published or peer-reviewed yet) from the platforms arXiv, bioRxiv, ChemRxiv, medRxiv, Preprints.org, Qeios, Research Square, and SSRN.

How does it work?

The portfolio is updated daily with articles from around the world. You can enter your search query at the top of the page to sort and filter by topic. An advanced filtering option allows you to narrow your search by timeframe — for example, to see research published between a range of dates.

The site also offers video tutorials for navigating the COVID-19 iSearch tool.

Why is this resource important?

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a new age of scientific progress. Researchers are working urgently to understand this disease, the virus that causes it, how to stop it from spreading, how to treat people who’ve gotten sick, and how the pandemic is affecting other parts of our lives, from the economy to our mental health.

This research is happening all over the world at the same time — so quickly that it might be hard even for scientists to keep track of. If they aren’t aware of each others’ projects, researchers might end up repeating the same work instead of making new progress. With the iSearch COVID-19 portfolio, they can quickly see other research happening around the world and build on one another’s work instead.

Where can I go to learn more?

NIH COVID-19 iSearch portfolio

• A database featuring an expert-curated library of scientific articles about COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2

ISearch COVID-19 Portfolio Tool Tutorials

• A three-part video tutorial that demonstrates the functionality of the NIH COVID-19 iSearch portfolio

Source

National Institutes of Health Office of Extramural Research. (2020). Open Mike: New NIH Resource to Analyze COVID-19 Literature: The COVID-19 Portfolio Tool. Retrieved April 2, 2021, from https://nexus.od.nih.gov/all/2020/04/15/new-nih-resource-to-analyze-covid-19-literature-the-covid-19-portfolio-tool/