Scientometric study of global mucormycosis (black fungus) research

Mucormycosis, a rare infection, caught the attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 patients were infected by the black fungus. This study presents a scientometric review of 6661 research articles related to mucormycosis published from 1947 to 2021 indexed in Scopus and Web of Science. The study analyses the publications quantitatively in terms of growth, collaboration, countries, institutions, journals, keywords, and impact (citation) using the Bib-Excel and visualized in the VOSviewer tool. The highest number of publications on mucormycosis research is from the USA, followed by India, China, Germany, France, and Japan. Most of the research collaborations are among institutions in Europe and the USA. The University of Texas-USA is the most productive institute followed by PGIMER-India. However, the papers from Indian institutes have a significantly lower citation impact than those from the other leading countries. Since most international research is restricted among a few institutes, the international collaboration in mucormycosis research needs to be enhanced for high-quality research. The analysis of author-assigned keywords showed that the studies on the drug isavuconazole to treat mucormycosis are lesser than other major drugs. The research on surgical management of mucormycosis can be improved. Research on the diagnosis methods for mucormycosis and the genetic studies on the causative fungi of the order Mucorales are to be promoted. There are a few studies on Rhizomucor, Lichtheimia, Cunninghamella, Saksenaea, and Apophysomyces, among the several fungi genera that cause mucormycosis. Since mucormycosis is becoming more prevalent and severely affecting a larger population as a post-COVID syndrome, research in this area should be strengthened and new drugs should be explored.