key: cord-0709544-9d4bkho2
authors: Maprayil, Sophie; Goggins, Amy; Harris, Francis; Johnson, Timothy R. B.; Adanu, Richard; Geary, Michael
title: The COVID‐19 pandemic: A first‐year review through the lens of IJGO
date: 2021-03-20
journal: Int J Gynaecol Obstet
DOI: 10.1002/ijgo.13645
sha: 24bcf4b98e7d7f96dee57868987418b8cdfac6f1
doc_id: 709544
cord_uid: 9d4bkho2

nan

are exacerbated for women and girls. The health of women in general has been adversely affected, with resources being reallocated in the emergency response to COVID-19 and frequently leading to the suspension or limitation of reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health (RMNCH) services. 4, 5 The UN Women brief also paints a stark picture in terms of gender-based violence, noting that as the pandemic deepens both social and economic stress, coupled with restricted movement and social isolation measures, many women have been forced to isolate with their abusers, a situation which has coincided with disruption or lack of access to the support services which they so desperately need. 5 The UNFPA have predicted that the pandemic is also likely to cause significant delays to programs dedicated to preventing child marriage and female genital mutilation; the estimated projections are stark, with over 2 million more cases of FGM and 13 million more child marriages over the next 10 years than would otherwise have occurred. 6 

As the official journal of the International Federation for Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), IJGO is a major source for global cutting-edge research and reports on issues affecting women's health, as well as addressing economic, social, and human rights issues. As the pandemic evolved, it soon became apparent that the wealth of new research and guidance emerging would not focus solely on virology or pulmonary issues, but that most areas of our lives would be affected-including women's health. Indeed, IJGO saw a 35% increase in submissions in 2020 compared to 2019-the bulk of these arriving between April and December.

Between February 25, 2020 and February 10, 2021, we received over 230 submissions relating to COVID-19, of which 100 have been published at the time of writing. The editors and staff of IJGO were united in feeling that it was paramount to fast-track the rapidly evolving health and social reports that were being submitted to the journal in order to share new insights and best practices for use by clinicians around the world as swiftly as possible. This necessitated some rapid changes to our processes and turnaround times and a strong shared commitment by the whole team to meet this challenge, all while adapting to a remote way of working during the various stages of international lockdowns. Our Editorial Manager submission site was monitored daily by the in-house team for any new COVID-19 submissions, and these were referred immediately for peer review. We identified a small team of highly dedicated reviewers and editors who were able to commit to rapid peer review turnaround while maintaining rigorous standards, and we were delighted to achieve a turnaround of under one week from submission to first decision on average, and under 24 days to final decision. The IJGO editorial team worked closely with our freelance copyeditors and Wiley's production department to fast-track the copyediting and typesetting of accepted papers, averaging under 5 days between acceptance and online publication. Authors showed remarkable dedication to ensuring that their research was disseminated swiftly, on average submitting their reworked and revised articles just 5 days after receiving initial peer review feedback.

We agreed with our partner publisher, Wiley, that all articles should be made free to access so that the latest research and knowledge could be disseminated to as wide an audience as possible, and we grouped these together in our COVID-19 Virtual Issue, which is free for all to access here 7 will be vital as we go forward, in order to "prevent widening health inequities, to build trust in the health benefits of vaccination, and to encourage COVID-19 vaccine and treatment uptake." 19 Barriers to women's access to antenatal and reproductive healthcare during the pandemic will also need to be addressed, in order to ensure 

COVID-19) in the UK

Maternal and child mortality worsens in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Lancet

UN Secretary-General's policy brief: The impact of COVID-19 on women

Millions more cases of violence, child marriage, female genital mutilation, unintended pregnancy expected due to the COVID-19 pandemic

IJGO COVID-19 Virtual Issue

Expert consensus for managing pregnant women and neonates born to mothers with suspected or confirmed novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection

Global interim guidance on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during pregnancy and puerperium from FIGO and allied partners: Information for healthcare professionals

COVID-19 infection in pregnant women: review of maternal and fetal outcomes

A systematic scoping review of COVID-19 during pregnancy and childbirth

The impact of COVID-19 on services for people affected by sexual and gender-based violence

Respectful maternity care in the context of COVID-19: A human rights perspective

Providing women's health care during COVID-19: Personal and professional challenges faced by health workers

Risk factors for adverse outcomes among pregnant and postpartum women with acute respiratory distress syndrome due to COVID-19 in Brazil

Legal and policy responses to the delivery of abortion care during COVID-19

The negative impact of COVID-19 on contraception and sexual and reproductive health: Could immediate postpartum LARCs be the solution?

Equity in Covid-19 vaccine development and deployment

Professionally responsible COVID-19 vaccination counseling of obstetric/gynecologic patients

Women's perceptions of COVID-19 and their healthcare experiences: a qualitative thematic analysis of a national survey of pregnant women in the United Kingdom