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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Research

A guide to help in finding information from medical literature and beyond on COVID-19. You may notice changes as this guide is updated frequently. If you have suggestions for resources please email the librarian listed on this page.

Resources for Research & Tracking

Some publishers have made resources that pertain to addressing the pandemic available for free. This includes some journals/journal collections not listed in Literature Collections because they are of narrow focus, but could still be useful.

Some publishing companies are giving free access to resources during the COVID-19 pandemic disruption that pertain to other health care needs. For a full list of options here at HSLIC see our Free Resources During COVID19 Disruptions guide.

Conducting a Search

When conducting searches in databases it is important to note that due to the new nature of this the subject headings that are being created to address Coronavirus 2019 might not be uniform and/or applied to every article in a timely manner and therefore you might want to think of using keywords to search.

Some articles in PubMed have a MeSH term attached to them, though not all do. Using this MeSH term with a date filter for the past year could help to narrow the results. The MeSH term is:

  • "Coronavirus Infections"[Mesh]

Some articles in PubMed will also have these supplementary concept attached to them, though not all do. The terms are:

  • severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [Supplementary Concept]
  • COVID-19 [Supplementary Concept]

Utilizing effective keywords with Boolean Operators will be important to find the pertinent literature specific to Coronovirus 2019.

Keywords to consider:

  • severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus
  • COVID-19
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Coronavirus - Note, this might lead to results that do not pertain to the new coronavirus but some articles are utilizing it in their abstracts so it could still be helpful. If you are finding too many results that aren't pertinent you might want to try "novel coronavirus" to narrow it some (though this might still lead to results from past research, there will be less) and/or attaching a date filter for the past year.

Advanced PubMed Search

Plug this search into PubMed, exactly as is, to find literature since December 2019 with most commonly used variations of the terminology. It should be noted that commonly used terminology in the medical literature does not always represent the ways we would phrase the terms, many may have biases and racist terms attached, but you might sometimes see them attached to a record.

(((coronavirus OR "corona virus" OR coronaviridae OR coronaviridae OR betacoronavirus OR covid19 OR "covid 19" OR ncov OR "CoV 2" OR CoV2 OR sarscov2 OR 2019nCoV OR "novel CoV") OR "Coronavirus"[Mesh] OR "Coronavirus Infections"[Mesh] OR "COVID-19"[Supplementary Concept] OR "severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2"[Supplementary Concept] OR "Betacoronavirus"[Mesh])) AND 2019/12[PDAT] : 2030[PDAT]

 

*Search based on MLA Clinical Librarian Caucus with minor edits emerging from conversations with other medical librarians.

Databases to Search Literature (not only about COVID-19)

Google Scholar

When searching Google Scholar the "Cited By" option can be a good way to find literature that is more up to date.

Screenshot of Google Scholar results with cited by highlighted

Check mark icon.Quick Tip: It is always important to evaluate resources, but with so much information coming in so quickly it is even more important with this topic. Understanding how long the research took to get published can be very useful. This can help in deciding if the information is still pertinent (have we gathered different data since then?) or if maybe the process was too rushed (is it feasible that it went through a thorough peer-review in the amount of time from writing to publication?). This is also why resources with updates, such as the WHO, CDC, and New Mexico Department of Health, can be good to cross reference.

Overviews of COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus)

Check mark icon.Quick Tip: These resources might also offer other keywords that you can search if looking for pertinent literature.

Resources to Address Multiple Languages

COVID-19 and Communities of Color: Implications for Health Literacy

UNM COVID-19 Digital Repository

Image of the Library with text "HSC & New Mexico Respond to COVID-19."

Click the image to be taken to the Digital Repository.

Materials in this collection are gathered from both the Health Sciences Center (administrators, researchers, faculty, staff, & students) as well as community providers and individuals impacted by COVID-19 across New Mexico. Utilize the link to submit your own submissions or view others.

HSLIC E-Books Identified as Possibly Useful for COVID-19 Research

News

Self-Care & Wellness

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During this time it is important to remember to take time to practice self care, be mindful, and de-stress as best you can. Here are a handful of resources to help with this.

UNM Employee Wellness Resources

Sign Up for Our List Servs for Weekly Nutrition and Fitness Information

Employee Wellness offers two weekly resources to your inbox from our Health Education Consultants. “Food for Thought” offers nutrition tips from Reed Vawter, our registered dietitian and nutritionist and “The Fit Life” offers discussions on fitness and practicing daily movement from Lauren Lewis, our fitness trainer and movement expert. 

How to Subscribe

  • Compose an email message to listserv@list.unm.edu
  • Leave the subject line blank
    • For “Food for Thought” listserv, enter only the following “subscribe” command in the body of the message: subscribe EAT-WELL-L Firstname Lastname (replace with your first and last name)
    • For “The Fit Life” listserv, enter only the following “subscribe” command in the body of the message: subscribe FIT_LIFE-L Firstname Lastname (replace with your first and last name)
       

Lauren’s Zoom Fitness Class

Lauren Lewis, Employee Wellness health education consultant and personal trainer, will be hosting daily live fitness classes, Monday-Friday at noon using Zoom. The class will be mostly bodyweight, circuit-style training so you don’t need any equipment. Just some floor space and a yoga mat if you have it. Email Lauren if you want to be on the Zoom invitee list so she knows to send you a calendar invite each time a class is scheduled. Email: lclewis@unm.edu.
 

Join Employee Wellness on Yammer

Yammer is UNM’s own social media-style platform where you can interact with others on fitness and wellness issues. Employee Wellness is offering great information there as well so be sure to join.

How to Join Yammer

  • Go to https://www.yammer.com
  • Enter your UNM Net ID and password
  • Find the UNM Employee Wellness Information and Resources Group and join!

Division Head; Education, Consultation & Reference Services

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Ingrid Hendrix
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Contact:
Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center
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505-272-0638
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Feel free to make a copy or re-use this page as long as you credit UNM HSLIC.

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This guide was created by a Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center staff member and is licensed by the Health Science Library and Informatics Center of the University of New Mexico under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.