The work environment, as well as the general well-being of researchers has been disrupted by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.¹ Researchers had to make major/minor adjustments to research operations, and some ceased their research either temporarily or permanently. An online survey evaluating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded extramural principal investigators (PIs) and their projects revealed that 74.6% of the respondents reported that their professional life was affected by the pandemic.¹ Another study showed that 77.8% of surveyed early career dementia researchers reported research delays during the pandemic. Moreover, 41.8% of the researchers experienced a negative effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on their career progression.²   

There are several factors that may have impacted researchers’ productivity and willingness. A cross-sectional, stratified random sampling study examining the factors related to medical researchers’ intention to leave their research organization revealed that 41.4% of the researchers had a moderate/high level of intention to leave, with burnout and job dissatisfaction as the leading factors.³ 

Researchers reported that they needed support during the pandemic; particularly, younger researchers and those with family members requiring care. The needs included, but were not limited to, research promotion and online education for the development of skills.⁴ Confirming the positive role of institutional support, a 38-item survey of 772 dental researchers revealed that this support was associated with higher productivity and was beneficial in terms of mitigating the effects of the pandemic.⁵ 

The pandemic has had an impact on researchers and their related research practices, and thus on science editing. A tremendous volume of manuscripts on the pathophysiology and treatment strategies of COVID-19 have been submitted to journals worldwide, which has put extra weight on editors’ shoulders. Moreover, plagiarism has become another issue⁶ as well as a relative decrease in the number of non–COVID-19 publications for some journals.⁷ This may result in a possible delay in the quality of care for non-COVID diseases in the upcoming years.⁸

The researchers wish to have a COVID-free New Year!

References and Links

1. Burnett WJ, Agbali R, Silva J, De Leo G. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on National Institutes of Health-funded researchers and their projects: the role of age, sex, experience, and team size. Public Health Rep. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/00333549221133809 
2. Bartels SL, Shaaban CE, Brum WS, Welikovitch LA, Folarin R, Smith A; ISTAART PIA to Elevate Early Career Researchers. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on early career dementia researchers: a global online survey. PLoS One. 2022;17:e0277470. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277470
3. Mat Rifin H, Danaee M. Association between burnout, job dissatisfaction and intention to leave among medical researchers in a research organisation in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022;19:10017. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191610017
4. Nagata K, Tanaka K, Takahashi Y, Asada Y, Shimpuku Y, Yoshinaga N, Sugama J. Support nursing researchers’ need from academic societies during COVID-19: a cross-sectional survey. Nurs Health Sci. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/nhs.12988
5. De Souza GM, Tiwari T, Fox CH, Miguez PA, Letra A, Geisinger ML, Patel M, Shaddox L, Ioannidou E. Perception of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on dental researchers. J Dent Educ. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/jdd.13104
6. Coskun Benlidayi I. The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on science editing. Sci Ed. 2021;8:126–127. https://doi.org/10.6087/kcse.241
7. Raynaud M, Goutaudier V, Louis K, Al-Awadhi S, Dubourg Q, Truchot A, Brousse R, Saleh N, Giarraputo A, Debiais C, et al. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on publication dynamics and non-COVID-19 research production. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2021;21:255. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-021-01404-9
8. Cosentino N, Marenzi G, Chiesa M. The Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on scientific research: an upcoming new wave? J Gen Intern Med. 2022;37:2553–2555. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-022-07647-6 

Ilke Coskun Benlidayi, MD (ORCID: 0000-0001-6517-5969), is Associate Professor, Cukurova University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Adana-Türkiye. 

Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the Council of Science Editors or the Editorial Board of Science Editor.