key: cord-0757861-tejdr2hq
authors: Hines, Kristen; Tulandi, Togas
title: Publishing in the time of the coronavirus pandemic
date: 2020-06-09
journal: J Obstet Gynaecol Can
DOI: 10.1016/j.jogc.2020.06.003
sha: 96d3fe5884de75216f55c20541ef5449887d0cb9
doc_id: 757861
cord_uid: tejdr2hq

nan

Kristen Hines, BA 1 

Managing editor, JOGC Editor-in-chief, JOGC Anecdotal reports from medical journals suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected our work in a number of areas, including volume of submissions, reviewer availability and timeliness, editor responsiveness, and even author demographics. 1 The magnitude of these effects vary by specialty, with journals dedicated to infectious diseases and epidemiology being the most common target journals for emerging research on COVID-19. But the field of obstetrics and gynaecology is not immune to the challenges of publishing in the time of coronavirus.

In the last few months, JOGC has received a large number of submissions as well as presubmission queries regarding COVID-19-related papers across the spectrum of women's health.

This development reflects the both the overwhelming desire for information on this novel virus and the increasing speed of publication of articles related to COVID-19. In fact, researchers are observing the number of articles published doubling every 2 weeks, reaching over 1300 in early May. 2 This number is much higher when preprints are counted. Preprints are articles published on preprint servers prior to peer-review. Although not vetted, some of this research does end up being reported by the media. While it is important to publish important findings in a timely manner, especially in the midst of a public health crisis, speed can come at the expense of quality.

The Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association, a collective of open access publishers, are seeking experts who are qualified to review COVID-19 papers, promise to do so in a timely manner, and agree to monitor preprints to identify those of high quality. 3 Individual journals like The Lancet have temporarily increased capacity to accommodate a surge in submissions. 4 But increasing capacity can be more challenging for smaller journals. Furthermore, the Society for Scholarly Publishing notes that "Societies and their journals are also producing videos, podcasts, fact sheets, patient centers, editorials, and summaries around the COVID-19 content." 1 Many of these resources require regular real time updating.

JOGC aims to fast-track the review of submissions related to COVID-19, but the editorial office must turn down many of these submission prior to peer review. Many of these manuscripts are well-written and relevant to JOGC readers but may also be unvalidated, duplicate other articles under review, or be outdated by the time they are published (even in the case of uncorrected proofs, which are posted online within 2 weeks of acceptance).

There is no way to predict what lasting effects COVID-19 will have on scholarly publishing, but it will be important to carefully monitor publishing trends in the years to come. In the meantime, we at the JOGC strive to balance our responsibilities to authors, readers, and the scientific record.

What Will We Learn About Scholarly Publishing as a Result of COVID-19?

Speeding up science during the pandemic

Scholarly publishers are working together to maximize efficiency during COVID-19 pandemic. Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association

Speed Science. Reuters