COVID-19 research and publishing: Advance ambitiously, but cautiously, in 2021

Abstract

Objectives: This paper retrospectively reflects on opportunities and risks encountered in 2020 related to publishing COVID-19-related research, and offers perspectives on how researchers should proceed cautiously in 2021. Methods: Based on select literature, the author's perspective, and case studies sourced primarily from PubMed, challenges in publishing COVID-19-related research observed in 2020 and early 2021 are described. Background problems and suggestions for possible solutions are provided. Findings: 2020 was highly transformative, not only for biomedical research as a direct result of a focus on COVID-19, but because many aspects of publishing were challenged. Some concerns that had already been emphasized recently, such as reproducibility, misinformation, or predatory publishing, were amplified in 2020, and carried over into 2021. Open data policies were more encouraged, but in select cases, they were weakly implemented. Applications: Both young and established researchers and academics alike, in their passionate desire to contribute to humanity's advance in understanding COVID-19, need to appreciate several risks and perils that lie within academic publishing.