key: cord-0707679-aczm8md4
authors: Martinez‐Lopez, Antonio; Montero‐Vilchez, Trinidad; Arias‐Santiago, Salvador
title: Research in dermatology in the COVID‐19 era
date: 2020-07-04
journal: Dermatol Ther
DOI: 10.1111/dth.13971
sha: c2826d2c8a941c10d3b6bdbb8fc4fe7b1e70f9aa
doc_id: 707679
cord_uid: aczm8md4

nan

To the Editor, In December 2019, a new virus initially called "Novel Coronavirus 2019-nCoV" and later renamed to "SARS-CoV-2" or COVID-19, rapidly emerged in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China and quickly spreading lengthwise China and other countries around the World. On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus outbreak constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) (1). At the time of this writing, the total number of cases worldwide exceeded 7 million people, affecting 188 countries and with more than 400,000 deaths. Although Western Europe countries were the most affected at the beginning of the pandemic, a significative increase of cases has been recently observed in other areas such as USA, Russia, Brazil, India or Peru (2) . While systemic symptoms such as fever, dry cough or myalgia are the most characteristic of this disease, a large number of recent papers have shown a wide range of cutaneous manifestations in these patients (3, 4) .

Paper production in dermatology has significantly experienced an increase in recent years.

In the last decade, the impact factor of dermatology journals has shown a progressive enhancement in their scores which relies on an increased publication of articles with a larger number of citations. These data are in contrast with a 2011 study that observed a decrease in the publication of rigorous articles in the 1997-2007 period (5) . Scientific research during pre-residency and residency is especially relevant. A recent study has shown that the publication of a high number of first author original papers during pre-residency period was associated with greater scientific production in the post-residency period and with the achievement of an academic work position, whereas a large number of preresidency case reports publications was associated with lower post-residency publication productivity (6).

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The onset of this outbreak has forced a shift in the priorities of health systems, forcing the withdrawal of non-urgent scheduled consultations. The development of teledermatology over the last decade in Europe has helped the access of dermatological care to a large number of patients during the outbreak. In that way, a recent survey performed during COVID-19 outbreak has demonstrated than telemedicine is an excellent tool for triage during stressful periods for the health care system (7) . In addition, smartphones applications are playing an increasing role in the management of these patients (8) This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

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