RESUMEN
Introduction: Scientific production has experienced an unprecedented increase with the COVID-19 pandemic in a short period of time. Objective: To identify and characterize the Latin American scientific production on nanotechnology-based products with potential applications in the areas of diagnosis, vaccine, pharmacological treatment, theranostics and non-pharmacological intervention to fight COVID-19. Method: A scoping review was conducted based on the framework of Arksey and O'Malley and sought to incorporate recommendations from the Joanna Briggs Institute Reviewer's Manual and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). The bibliographic search took place in PubMed, Science Direct, LILACS and SciELO. Studies that reported nanotechnology-based products with potential applications in the areas of interest referenced previously were included. A simple quantitative analysis was conducted to provide numerical summaries of characteristics of interest from the studies added to the review. Results: 26 (3.4%) articles published in 14 international and regional journals were included. Authors from five countries (Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Mexico) were responsible for the total number of articles that made up the review. The production of 6 (23.1%) articles included international collaboration, involving institutions from 10 countries. The median time from submission to publication of articles was 126 days (interquartile range: 58-200). Most of the Latin American scientific production consisted of narrative reviews (n = 19;73.1%). The five areas defined as of interest for this study were addressed by one of the scientific articles, especially the products intended for pharmacological treatment of COVID-19 (n = 14;53.8%). Conclusions: This is the first scoping review to provide a map of Latin American scientific production on nanotechnology-based products with potential applications in areas of interest to fight COVID-19. There are deficiencies related to the publication of basic research, representativeness of Latin American countries in the region, studies with greater strength of evidence and to international collaboration to produce scientific articles that merit to be reduced.