Measuring interconnectedness of infectious diseases in funded and unfunded research: a temporal network analysis on bibliometric data 1995-2022

Abstract

Despite substantial investments in infectious disease research over the past decades, the field continues to struggle with inadequate long-term investment strategies and resource disparities, which highlights the critical need for a better understanding of funding and research landscapes to support evidence-based policymaking. Our study presents a novel perspective on the interconnectedness of evolving infectious disease knowledge. Through identifying publications based on funded and unfunded research, the analysis of temporal network of infectious disease associations reveals (i) growing compartmentalisation of funded research, i.e., it focuses on the groups of infectious diseases with readily established connections, and (ii) the growth in global integration in unfunded research, i.e., it tends to be more widely exploratory and links distant diseases. Moreover, we find that in both funded and unfunded research prominent diseases like HIV, malaria and tuberculosis have strong bridging effects facilitating global integration, while diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis are characterised with strong local connectivity between themselves. We also find that although coronavirus has seen a surge in publications since COVID-19, its systemic impact on the interconnectedness of infectious disease knowledge remains relatively low. Our work highlights the importance of considering the interconnectedness of infectious diseases in health policy making and has potential to contribute to more efficient health resource allocation.