COVID-19 and biomedical publishing: Challenges and prospects

Abstract

The current widespread infectious disease pandemic of the new coronavirus (COVID19), which originated in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, has spread very rapidly and has a profound impact on all areas of human life throughout the world in unprecedented ways. It is caused by a new coronavirus called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which was most likely transmitted to humans by bats. The global response to COVID-19 has also been to an unprecedented scale, drawn in part from lessons during some other disease epidemics in recent decades. The scientific community also reacted enthusiastically to this deadly threat to human health. The number of basic and applied research being carried out on COVID-19 is unprecedented in human history. The research area remains broad, but it focuses on the diagnosis and development of effective vaccines and drugs for the treatment of affected patients. COVID-19 has also changed the paradigm of the publishing industry. Leading international journals support this paradigm by encouraging authors to publish. This is done through an accelerated peer review process, The rapid dissemination of information has highlighted some problems in communicating scientific findings and conclusions during this time of great sensitivity and global concern. It is important to make sure that the scientific community is not an accidental source of misinformation and infodemic. This requires a multimodal approach with the support of all stakeholders, including publishers, prepress servers, authors, and journalists. The paradigm of medical publications has changed and a coordinated approach is required to maintain a high level of scientific communication.