Trends in academic productivity in the COVID-19 era: analysis of neurosurgical, stroke neurology, and neurointerventional literature

Abstract

BackgroundAcademic physicians aim to provide clinical and surgical care to their patients while actively contributing to a growing body of scientific literature. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in procedural-based specialties across the United States witnessing a sharp decline in their clinical volume and surgical cases.ObjectiveTo assess the impact of COVID-19 on neurosurgical, stroke neurology, and neurointerventional academic productivity.MethodsThe study compared the neurosurgical, stroke neurology, and neurointerventional academic output during the pandemic lockdown with the same time period in previous years. Editors from a sample of neurosurgical, stroke neurology, and neurointerventional journals provided the total number of original manuscript submissions, broken down by months, from the year 2016 to 2020. Manuscript submission was used as a surrogate metric for academic productivity.Results8 journals were represented. The aggregated data from all eight journals as a whole showed that a combined average increase of 42.3% was observed on original submissions for 2020. As the average yearly percent increase using the 2016–2019 data for each journal exhibited a combined average increase of 11.2%, the rise in the yearly increase for 2020 in comparison was nearly fourfold. For the same journals in the same time period, the average percent of COVID-19 related publications from January to June of 2020 was 6.87%.ConclusionThere was a momentous increase in the number of original submissions for the year 2020, and its effects were uniformly experienced across all of our represented journals.

Global survey on disruption and mitigation of neurological services during COVID-19: the perspective of global international neurological patients and scientific associations

“…Finally, the dissemination of new tailored guidelines for disease management and the influx of academic increasing productivity about neurological manifestations associated with COVID-19 [ 31 ] are globally still limited. This was demonstrated when 37% of respondents expressed they were unaware of the existence of national or international guidelines, of any type and for neurological patients in particular.…”

Entwicklung der Publikationsleistung der Universitätskliniken für Hals-Nasen-Ohrenheilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie während der SARS-CoV-2-Pandemie im Jahr 2020 in Deutschland

“…Eine weitere Erklärung für dieses Phänomen könnte der Wegfall von Kongressen und Tagungen und den damit verbundenen Dienstreisen darstellen, sodass diese Zeit wissenschaftlichen Projekten zur Verfügung stand [7]. Auch wenn die exakte Ursache gegenwärtig nicht geklärt ist, konnte eine Steigerung der Publikationsleistung während der Corona-Pandemie auch in anderen Fachdisziplinen beobachtet werden [7,8]. Dies spricht dafür, dass es sich um allgemeine und weniger um fachspezifische Ursachen dieser Beobachtung gehandelt haben muss.…”

Telehealth and Research in Orthopedics: New Means of Care Invites New Barriers to Evidence

“…Annual meetings have also been largely changed to virtual gatherings and displays of research. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) annual meeting hosts thousands of individuals involved in the care of orthopedic patients in which the most high-quality and clinically impactful orthopedic research is presented [12]. Furthermore, this serves as a forum for intellectual exchange and offers learning opportunities for residents, fellows, and junior attendings.…”