CoVis: a curated, collaborative & visual knowledge base for COVID-19 research

For the development of therapeutics and vaccines for COVID-19, scientists depend on valid knowledge on the coronavirus biology, clinical responses and epidemiology. But finding reliable research results is often difficult: with over 200,000 papers published on the topic, scientists spend a lot of valuable time reviewing the literature.

CoVis is addressing this challenge: the tool provides a curated knowledge map of seminal works on COVID-19. CoVis provides a quick overview of seminal research outputs from key areas of biomedical research. When pertinent issues are not answered by a single research source, such as whether a drug is effective, data and images from multiple sources are compiled into a visual dashboard called a ReFigure. The collection is not meant to be exhaustive, but to offer a single reference point for definitive research in key areas of biomedical research.

CoVis makes it easier to get started on coronavirus research - but also helps you to stay up-to-date. In order to do justice to the rapid development of COVID-19 research, the database is extended regularly by a dedicated team of curators. Subject-matter experts from around the world are invited to contribute to CoVis in a number of ways. They can provide feedback and propose research resources for inclusion in the map using a short form. They can join the curation or create their own ReFigures and interpretations of research findings for inclusion in the knowledge map.

Developed in collaboration between Open Knowledge Maps and ReFigure, CoVis establishes a meaningful link between the two infrastructures, combining powerful visual overview and knowledge synthesis components and offering them to stakeholders of COVID-19 research as an open infrastructure.