Abstract
Much of the available evidence regarding COVID-19 effects on the scientific community in the U.S. is anecdotal and non-representative. We report findings from a based survey of university-based biologists, biochemists, and civil and environmental engineers regarding negative and positive COVID-19 impacts, respondent contributions to addressing the pandemic, and their opinions regarding COVID-19 research policies. The most common negative impact was university closures, cited by 93% of all scientists. Significant subgroup differences emerged, with higher proportions of women, assistant professors, and scientists at institutions located in COVID-19 “hotspot” counties reporting difficulties concentrating on research. Assistant professors additionally reported facing more unanticipated childcare responsibilities. Approximately half of the sample also reported one or more positive COVID-19 impacts, suggesting the importance of developing a better understanding of the complete range of impacts across all fields of science. Regarding COVID-19 relevant public policy, findings suggest divergence of opinion concerning surveillance technologies and the need to alter federal approval processes for new tests and vaccines.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to dramatically impact public health and economies around the world, especially in the United States, which has disproportionately suffered from it
Available evidence suggests that investigator access to on-campus university facilities and resources remains limited (Omary et al, 2020; Servick et al, 2020), the time scientists spend on research has declined sharply (Myers et al, 2020), international collaborations have been reduced (Fry et al, 2020), available resources are being diverted away from other research priorities (Kent et al, 2020; Saini et al, 2020), and peer review and other scientific standards are in danger of being compromised as scientists have rushed to confront the problem (London and Kimmelman, 2020; Schwab and Held, 2020)
Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (Oster et al, 2020), we identified and coded universities in the sample as to whether or not the county in which they were located was classified as a COVID-19 “hotspot” between March 8 and May 31, 2020—the dates our survey was fielded
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to dramatically impact public health and economies around the world, especially in the United States, which has disproportionately suffered from it. There is concern that long-term COVID-19 impacts on scientific research may disproportionately fall on women (Collins et al, 2020; Cui et al, 2020; Korbel and Stegle, 2020; Minello, 2020; Squazzoni et al, 2020), persons of color (Gould and Wilson, 2020; Staniscuaski et al, 2021; Weissman, 2020), early-career investigators (Gonzales and Griffin, 2020; Kent et al, 2020; Termini and Traver, 2020; Yan, 2020), those with childcare responsibilities (Krukowski et al, 2021; Langin, 2020; Myers et al, 2020; Watchorn and Heckendorf, 2020), and graduate students (Chirikov et al, 2020; Johnson et al, 2020; Toronto Science Policy Network, 2020) Much of this information is anecdotal or comes from surveys conducted using non-probability sampling methods or unclear sample frames. We report findings from a probability-based sample survey of 362 U.S university-based biologists, biochemists, and civil and environmental engineers concerning the impacts of the COVID19 pandemic on their scientific productivity and investigate differences in impacts by gender, rank, and COVID-19 “hotspot” status
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